Australian Transport Safety Bureau

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia’s national transport safety investigator. The ATSB is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within Australia. It covers air, sea and rail travel. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is an independent Commonwealth Government statutory Agency. The Bureau is governed by a Commission and is entirely separate from transport regulators, policy makers and service providers. Its headquarters are located in the 62 Northbourne Avenue building in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

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 Chief Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act). The TSI Act allows the ATSB 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.

Other countries

 * National Transportation Safety Board - United States