Statistical Publication

Why have we done this report

Thousands of safety occurrences involving Australian-registered and foreign aircraft are reported to the ATSB every year by individuals and organisations in Australia’s aviation industry, and by the public. The aim of the ATSB’s statistical report series is to give information back to pilots, operators, regulators, and other aviation industry participants on what accidents and incidents have happened, how often they are happening, and what we can learn from them.

What the ATSB found

In 2012, there were 107 accidents, 195 serious incidents, and over 7,300 incidents reported to the ATSB involving Australian (VH– registered) aircraft, and a further 570 occurrences that involved foreign-registered aircraft operating within Australia or its airspace.

Commercial air transport aircraft were involved in the majority of incidents reported each year, and in 2012 the most common safety incidents reported were animal strikes, non-compliance with publish information or air traffic control instructions, and aircraft system and airframe issues. Most accidents and serious incidents related to reduced aircraft separation and engine malfunction.

General aviation aircraft, such as aircraft conducting flying training, aerial work, or private/pleasure flying, were involved in 38 per cent of occurrences reported to the ATSB in 2012. Airspace incursions, compliance with air traffic control, and birdstrikes were the most common incidents reported, with most accidents and serious incidents involving terrain collisions, engine failures, and a loss of aircraft control. Private/business operations had the highest number of fatal accidents in 2012 out of any year in the last 10 years, with 15 fatal accidents resulting in 22 fatalities. In contrast, commercial aerial work operations recorded the lowest number of accidents in the past 10 years.

In most operation types, helicopters had a higher rate of accidents and fatal accidents than aeroplanes.

A new addition to the ATSB’s aviation statistics are data on recreational (non–VH) aircraft safety. In 2012, the majority of the 274 occurrences reported were controlled airspace incursions, engine malfunctions, aircraft control problems, and runway events such as veer-offs.

Over the past 10 years, aerial agriculture had the most accidents and fatal accidents per hour flown, followed by private/business operations. Aerial survey and aerial mustering had the next highest accident and fatal accident rates.

Safety message

Aviation occurrence statistics provide a reminder to everyone involved in the operation of aircraft that accidents, incidents, and injuries happen more often than is widely believed. Some of the most frequent accident types are preventable, particularly in general aviation. Pilots and operators should use the misfortunes of others to help identify the safety risks in their operation that could lead to a similar accident or serious incident.

Timely and thorough reporting of safety incidents is paramount. The ATSB’s capability to understand why accidents and incidents happen and to identify the major safety risks in different types of aviation operations is at its best when all aviation participants report all safety incidents. The information the ATSB provides helps everyone in the aviation industry to better manage their safety risk.

Why did we do this report

The ATSB receives reports on accidents and other safety incidents involving Australian registered trading vessels (cargo and/or passengers) around the world and trading vessels flying foreign flags within Australia’s maritime jurisdictions. The aim of this report is to provide participants in the shipping industry and other interested parties with information on what accidents and incidents have happened, how often they have happened, and what can be learnt from them.

What the ATSB found

In 2012, there were 154 marine safety occurrences reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. This was over 50 per cent higher than the 2005-12 average of 100 occurrences each year. The increase in occurrences in 2012 was due to substantial increases in the number of reported ‘incidents’ (137) and ‘serious incidents’ (12). Fewer than 10 accidents were reported each year between 2005 and 2012, with five in 2012.

Between 2005 and 2012, there were 245 people killed, missing or seriously injured from reported marine occurrences. In 2012 there were 6 deaths and 33 serious injuries; the latter was the highest number for any year of the report period.

Bulk carriers and cargo vessels (including container, roll-on – roll-off cargo, heavy lift and livestock ships) have been the most common vessels involved in occurrences since 2005 and their involvement increased substantially in 2012. There were also increases in the involvement of tankers, offshore support vessels and tugs.

The number of foreign vessels involved in occurrences grew considerably in 2012. This was predominantly due to an increased involvement in incidents (up 55 per cent on 2011), but there were also more foreign registered vessels involved in serious incidents.

The number of Australian registered vessels involved in occurrences also increased in 2012 and the highest number of occurrences recorded was by Australian, Panamanian and Singaporean registered vessels.

Between 2005 and 2012, the most common types of occurrence were damage to the ship or equipment, serious injury and equipment failure. In 2012, there were increases in five of the six most common occurrence types, with serious injury, equipment failure and machinery failure reaching their highest levels for any year of the 2005-2012 period.

Safety message

Marine occurrence statistics provide a reminder to everyone involved in shipping that accidents, incidents, and injuries happen more often than is widely believed. Some of the most frequent accident types are preventable, particularly fatalities to crew and shipboard workers. Operators should learn from the experiences of others in the industry to help identify the safety risks in their operation that could lead to a similar accident or serious incident.

Thorough reporting of safety incidents is paramount. Analysis of reported occurrences helps to understand why accidents and incidents happen, and where the major safety risks are. This helps everyone in the marine industry to better manage their safety risk.

This report tables rail safety occurrence data by state and territory between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2012. The data is presented as counts, and divided by kilometres travelled or the number of track kilometres to allow comparison between states. This report excludes tram, light rail and monorail operations.

The data presented is designed to assist rail safety professionals and researchers in understanding and taking action to reduce the safety risk. In addition, it can be used for international comparative research, while informing the public about emerging issues in rail safety. The data in this report contains information about the following safety-critical events:

• fatalities
• serious personal injuries
• derailments
• collisions
• level crossing occurrences
• signals passed at danger (SPAD)
• load irregularities
• track and civil infrastructure irregularities.

Why we have done this report

Thousands of safety occurrences involving Australian-registered and foreign aircraft are reported to the ATSB every year by individuals and organisations in Australia's aviation industry, and by the public. The aim of the ATSB's statistical report series is to give information back to pilots, operators, regulators, and other aviation industry participants on what accidents and incidents have happened, how often they are happening, and what we can learn from them.

What the ATSB found

There were 130 accidents, 121 serious incidents, and 6,823 incidents in 2011 involving VH-registered aircraft. These included a first officer who was thrown off a set of portable stairs by jet blast from a Boeing 747 at Brisbane Airport, a freight flight that disappeared while trying to land in the Torres Strait Islands, a Boeing 777 that flew just 1,000 feet above suburban Melbourne while on approach to land, and an ABC helicopter that was tragically lost on a flight over Lake Eyre.

General aviation operations continue to have an accident rate higher than for commercial air transport operations: in 2011, about four times higher for accidents, and nine times higher for fatal accidents.

Most commercial air transport accidents and serious incidents were related to reduced aircraft separation, and engine issues. Charter operations accounted for most of the accidents, including two fatal accidents in 2011. Air transport incidents were more likely to involve birdstrikes or a failure to comply with air traffic control instructions or published information.

For general aviation aircraft, accidents and serious incidents often involved terrain collisions, aircraft separation issues, or aircraft control problems. Where general aviation aircraft were involved in an incident, airspace incursions, failure to comply with air traffic control, and wildlife strikes were common.

In most operation types, helicopters had a higher rate of accidents and fatal accidents than aeroplanes, except for in charter operations. Even though the fatal accident rate is generally higher, helicopter accidents are on the whole associated with fewer fatalities than fixed-wing aircraft.

Safety message

Aviation occurrence statistics provide a reminder to everyone involved in the operation of aircraft that accidents, incidents, and injuries happen more often than is widely believed. Some of the most frequent accident types are preventable, particularly in general aviation. Pilots and operators should use the misfortunes of others to help identify the safety risks in their operation that could lead to a similar accident or serious incident.

Timely and thorough reporting of safety incidents is paramount. The growth of reporting to the ATSB that has been seen over the last 10 years has helped us to better understand why accidents and incidents happen, and what the major safety risks are in different types of aviation operations. This helps everyone in the aviation industry to better manage their safety risk.

This report tables rail safety occurrence data by state and territory between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2011. The data is presented as counts, and divided by kilometres travelled or the number of track kilometres to allow comparison between states. This report excludes tram, light rail and monorail operations.

The data presented is designed to assist rail safety professionals and researchers in understanding and taking action to reduce the safety risk. In addition, it can be used for international comparative research, while informing the public about emerging issues in rail safety. The data in this report contains information about the following safety-critical events:

• fatalities
• serious personal injuries
• derailments
• collisions
• level crossing occurrences
• signals passed at danger (SPAD)
• load irregularities
• track and civil infrastructure irregularities.

This report tables rail safety occurrence data by state and territory between 1 January 2001 and 30 June 2011. Data is adjusted biannually to reflect new information that comes to light during the reporting period. There is a lag period of approximately 3 to 4 months between the end of the 6-monthly reporting period and publication of this data. The data is presented as counts, and normalised using kilometres travelled and number of track kilometres. Data presented in this report conforms to ON-S1: Occurrence Notification Standard 1 (2004) and OC-G1: Occurrence Classification Guideline 1 (2008). This report excludes tram, light rail and monorail operations.

There were a total of 546 marine occurrences reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau from 2005 to 2010. There were significant decreases in reported occurrences in 2008 and 2010; however, the number of serious incidents remained fairly constant for the duration of the period. The number of accidents has decreased from eight each year from 2005 to 2007 to three each year from 2008 to 2010, which reflects the decrease in fatal accidents and people missing during the second half of the period. Injuries sustained were mainly to one person in each occurrence; however, there were occasional occurrences where more than one person was injured.

The West Australian and Queensland coasts had the most marine occurrences, followed by New South Wales and Victoria. More than half of occurrences in the Northern Territory occurred at sea, and Tasmania and Victoria had about 75 and 70 percent of occurrences while at berth or within harbours.

The most common time period for marine occurrences was between 8 am and 11 am, however, another slight rise in occurrences is observed between 1am and 7 am.

Most occurrences involved one vessel, however there were 43 occurrences where 2 vessels were involved, and one 3-vessel occurrence between a barge in tow with a tug and an offshore support vessel in 2010. The number of occurrences involving Australian vessels has decreased over the time period, and a slight increase was observed for occurrences involving foreign registered vessels.

The main vessels involved were bulk carriers and cargo vessels, which also had the highest number of injuries recorded, and close to one in four reported occurrences resulting in serious or fatal injuries. Typical injuries sustained were falls from height, being hit from falling or swinging objects, and burns from explosions, flame bursts or hot fuel oil.

The most common type of occurrence involved damage to the ship or equipment followed by serious injury and equipment failure. Equipment failure, fires and explosions were associated with the highest number of fatal and serious injuries. Cargo vessels, bulk carriers and tankers were the most common vessels involved in pollution occurrences, making up 22 out of 25 vessels with this occurrence type. The majority of pollution occurrences involved the venting of gases into the atmosphere, or small amounts of dangerous goods or oil leaking.

A number of changes have been made to this document since it was first published in May 2011. The number of occurrences reported have remained the same, and only the rates of occurrences per departure or hours flown have changed. See page vi of AR-2011-020 for further details.

In 2010, uncontained engine failures occurred on two high-capacity aircraft (a Boeing 747 and an Airbus A380); two air transport aircraft almost collided in non-controlled airspace, coming within 40 metres of each other; and a cockpit window blew out of a Metro aircraft at about 20,000 feet, resulting in a rapid cabin decompression. These are some of the occurrences described in a new report on occurrence data for the period 2001 to 2010. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has tabled a list of frequently occurring events and presents them in this report along with trends over time.

During 2010, the top five most frequently occurring events for air transport relating to accidents and serious incidents were aircraft separation, aircraft control, powerplant and propulsions systems, miscellaneous events and terrain collisions, runway events and ground operations. For air transport incidents they were wildlife strikes, failure to comply, mechanical systems, miscellaneous and airframe events. For general aviation aircraft involved in accidents and serious incidents, the top five most frequently occurring events were terrain collisions, aircraft control, powerplant and propulsion, aircraft separation and runway events. Where general aviation aircraft were involved in an incident, the top five most frequently occurring events were airspace incursion, failure to comply, wildlife strikes, runway events and aircraft separation.

General aviation operations continue to have a fatal accident rate per million departures that is about 4.3 times higher than for air transport. The general aviation accident rate per million departures is about three times higher than air transport. No fatal accidents were recorded in high-capacity air transport between 2001 and 2010. During 2010, there was one fatal accident in low-capacity air transport, and charter operations recorded no fatal accidents. Between 2001 and 2010, most fatal accidents in air transport were in charter operations. Charter aeroplanes and helicopters have a similar accident and fatal accident rate. In air transport, charter operations offer the best potential target for safety improvement.

In general aviation, there were 147 fatal accidents and 236 people killed between 2001 and 2010. The general aviation accident and fatality rate is not evenly dispersed across all sub-groups or types of aircraft. Of all general aviation sub-groups, private/business flying has the highest fatal accident rate and the greatest number of fatalities (135 people between 2001 and 2010). Agriculture has the highest accident rate and second highest fatal accident rate. This is followed by mustering, survey and photography, and flying training. In aerial work, helicopters have a higher accident and fatal accident rate than aeroplanes. In contrast to this, flying training and private operations helicopters have a higher accident rate than aeroplanes, but overall, are associated with a smaller number of total fatalities.

In the 2009-2010 financial year, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) completed 37 aviation, 10 marine, and 11 rail investigations where safety factors were identified using the ATSB analysis framework. From these investigations, 124 safety issues (factors that have a potential to adversely affect the safety of future operations) were identified and 141 safety actions were undertaken to address these safety issues. This report documents and analyses these safety issues and safety actions and explores the risk levels assigned to provide an understanding of where the greatest risks to each transport mode appear to lie. The results will be useful for government decision makers, regulators and the aviation, rail and marine industries to understand if and where attention to risk needs to be applied.

Inadequate procedures or the lack of procedures were a common safety issue found by ATSB investigations for all transport modes. In rail investigations, problems with safety management process practices were slightly more common than problems with procedures. When safety issues are assessed by the level of risk posed to transport safety, the lack of procedures or inadequate procedures were found to carry the most significant safety risk for all three modes.

Deck and flight operations were the functional areas that were associated with the most safety issues in marine and aviation investigations respectively. These were also the functional areas (along with navigation - pilotage for marine) that were linked to the majority of the safety issues carrying significant risk. For rail, vehicle maintenance and network operations were associated with the most safety issues of significant risk.

Proactive industry safety action was the most common way safety issues identified in investigations were addressed across the aviation and marine modes, while proactive industry safety actions made up only half of the safety actions taken by the rail mode.

Amending or adding procedures was a common proactive industry safety action for all modes. This was particularly the case for safety issues that carried significant safety risk. For marine, the proactive industry safety actions taken spread across various categories such as procedures, organisational supervision, documentation, education, and training. In addition, proactive changes or additions to documentation were the second most common proactive industry safety action for the aviation industry.

This report tables rail safety occurrence data by state and territory between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2010. Data is adjusted biannually to reflect new information that comes to light during the reporting period. There is a lag period of approximately 3 to 4 months between the end of the 6-monthly reporting period and publication of this data. The data is presented as counts, and normalised using kilometres travelled and number of track kilometres. Data presented in this report conforms to ON-S1: Occurrence Notification Standard 1 (2004) and OC-G1: Occurrence Classification Guideline 1 (2008). This report excludes tram, light rail and monorail operations.