National Transportation Safety Board

NTSB: The National Transport Safety Board is a federal agency that was established in 1967 to carry out independent investigations of civil aviation accidents in America and major disasters in other transportation modes in the country. Since NTSB is not part of the Department of Transportation nor associated with any of the department's modal agencies, it has no enforcement or regulatory powers. In essence, this organization is an independent federal accident investigation body, whose main work is to determine probable causes of accidents in the transportation sector, especially aviation industry.

Upon completion of its investigation, NTSB creates safety recommendations to enhance transportation safety. However, factual information obtained from NTSB's investigations cannot be used as evidence in a court of law since its focus is on enhancing transportation safety. The National Transport Safety Board conducts investigations of nearly 2,000 aviation accidents and events annually as well as 500 accidents in other transportation modes such as pipeline, rail, marine, and highway. The organization comprises approximately 400 employees, which has contributed to its leveraging resources in order to accomplish its responsibilities and tasks.

One of the major ways through which NTSB leverages its resources to accomplish its tasks is through the party process, which involves designating other companies or organizations as parties to its investigations ("The Investigative Process at NTSB," n.d.). The main parties in NTSB party process include the FAA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Nonetheless, NTSB also designates other federal and state agencies as well as law enforcement agencies to carry out additional investigations for enforcement purposes.

Generally, the organization has full discretion in deciding the agency or corporation to enlist as parties to the investigation. In most cases, organizations or corporations that are enlisted and granted party status are those that can offer expertise to the investigation. On the other hand, NTSB also permits agencies or corporations to serve on the investigation if they can provide the Safety Board with necessary technical or specialized expertise.

Organizations or corporations enlisted as parties to the investigation report to the NTSB though individuals in legal positions are not permitted to be designated to the investigation. While the enlisted agencies conduct their own investigations for enforcement, the determination of the actual cause of transportation accidents and incidents remains the sole responsibility of the Safety Board ("What is the National Transportation Safety Board?" n.d.). Through the party system, much of the background technical information is collected to be used in the factual reports by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Safety Board uses its staff to supervise all investigative activities in order to accomplish its objectives. The head of each investigative group or organization basically prepares and documents a factual report upon completion of their respective tasks. Each of the parties in the specific investigative organization or unit is requested to verify the accuracy of the factual report. After the verification process, the factual reports are usually placed in the public domain. NTSB's factual reports usually contain probable causes of a transportation.