Transportation Safety in 5 Major Nations

Transportation

DISASTER RECOVERY AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONTINUITY

The governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States all have some form of transportation safety board for disaster response. Their duties are sometimes gathered under one agency and sometimes divided among more than one agency. However, their missions are all focused on transportation security and not on assigning blame to people or groups for accident.

Transportation Safety Boards

Australia

Australia has the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is an independent statutory agency run by a Commission and kept apart from regulators, policy makers and service providers for transportation. It is designed to increase safety and public confidence transportation by: autonomous examination -- both in Australia and abroad - of accidents and safety incidents; recording, examining and researching safety information; and encouraging safety consciousness, information and behavior (Australian Government, 2016). The ATSB investigates aviation accidents, events and insufficiencies. The agency follows the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) and investigates to improve safety, not to place blame, make regulations or manage safety. The ATSB follows international guidelines for investigations, according to Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, including: required reporting of incidences that are Immediately Reportable Matters and Routine Reportable Matters. These reports tell the ATSB whether it should investigate further. The ATSB also follows event trends that show a possibility for accidents. If the ATSB investigates, it issues findings and significant factors to improve conditions and prevent future accidents (Australian Government, 2016). The ATSB is also involved in Marine safety, involving about 75% of all imports/exports, and uses a Marine Safety Investigation team to maintain and enhance marine transport safety. The Marine Safety Investigation team investigates any accidents, incidents or trends to improve conditions; not to place blame. Its investigations are according to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention and the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (Australian Government, 2016). The ATSB also covers rail safety but has limited resources, so it does not always go to the scene of an accident, or have a thorough investigation or issue an exhaustive report. As in the cases of Aviation and Marine situations, the ATSB is interested in finding causes and improving conditions; not in placing blame on anyone (Australian Government, 2016)..

b. Canada

Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) was created by the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act of 1990. It has 5 board members and 220 workers who are in regional offices to respond across Canada (Canadian Government, 2016). It handles aviation by investigating accidents and safety events around the globe, as long as they involve someone who has a Canadian aviation document. The TSB covers about 250 aviation accidents and 800 incidents in Canada, as well as 200 international events, every year. It investigators are aviation experts: pilots; engineers; and air traffic controllers, who also observe safety developments and communicate about safety matters (Canadian Government, 2016). The TSB also covers Marine transportation in the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans and the Great Lakes, investigating accidents and safety events (Canadian Government, 2016). Canada's rail system is also covered by the TSB and its investigations of rail accidents and incidents covers decision-making, risk administration, failure of mechanisms, management, metallurgy and train track systems (Canadian Government, 2016).

c. New Zealand

New Zealand's transportation safety board work is handled by two agencies that have some overlapping work. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of New Zealand investigates aviation accidents and incidents to find causes and enhance prevention, relying on reports from every professional involved in every phase of aviation, rail and marine accidents and incidents, and also road accidents if they affect rail safety. When one of those professionals reports an accident or incident, CAA works with him/her to discern what happened and the (Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, 2016). In addition to the CAA, New Zealand has the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), which investigates to find causes and develop measures for prevention without placing blame (Transport Accident Investigation Commission, 2016).

d. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's transportation safety board work is divided between two agencies: the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil accidents and incidents; the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) investigates military accidents and incidents. Both agencies work within the United Kingdom but also around the world (United Kingdom Government, 2016). These two agencies are also concerned with regulating transportation rather than just investigating and educating about safety issues (United Kingdom Government, 2016). Individuals, organizations or other agencies can submit reports about accidents, incidents or safety problems that are then investigated by the AAIB and/or the MAA, which seek to find causes and improve safety, rather than to place blame on anyone.

e. United States