Australian Transport Safety Bureau

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Agency overview
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
Formed	1 July 1999
Jurisdiction	Government of Australia
Employees	100
Agency Executive	Kym Bills, Executive Director
Website
www.atsb.gov.au

ATSB redirects here. ATSB may also refer to the US Air Transportation Stabilization Board.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within Australia. It covers air, sea, rail travel. It is an agency of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. It was incorporated in its current form on July 1, 1999.

The ATSB contributes to transport safety by independently investigating, analyzing and openly reporting on transport safety matters. All ATSB investigations are "no blame" – the emphasis is on learning to improve future safety.

The ATSB is entirely separate from transport regulatory authorities such as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and state and territory rail safety regulators, and also from service providers such as Airservices Australia and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).

ATSB transport safety investigations exercise statutory powers delegated by the Executive Director in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act). The TSI Act allows the Executive Director to investigate transport safety matters in the aviation, marine and rail transport modes within the Australian Government’s constitutional jurisdiction and to release transport safety information, including investigation reports that detail the findings and significant factors that led to a particular transport safety occurrence.

Under the provisions of the TSI Act, ATSB investigators may interview anyone involved directly or indirectly in a transport safety occurrence. A comprehensive regime of provisions within the TSI Act is in place to maintain the confidentiality of, and legal protection for, a range of sensitive safety information gathered by ATSB investigators.