Transportation Safety Board Responds to Petition

As many readers will be aware, some of the Objectives in the SafeSkies Mission relate to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB).  It is for this reason the following statement is contained in the Petition for Judicial Inquiry into Aviation Safety:

WHEREAS, the Transportation Safety Board no longer investigates all serious accidents for cause and contributing factors, nor does it make public the results of all investigations, resulting in a loss of valuable safety information.

The Petition was first tabled in the House of Commons on November 19th, 2009.  Although no formal reply has yet been received from Transport Canada or its Minister, the following reply from the TSB was tabled on March 4th, 2010.  It is unfortunate that the TSB does not recognize our concerns as valid.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is recognized as a world leader in its field due to its independence, credibility and expertise.  The TSB conducts its business in a fully independent and objective manner in order to fulfill its mandate of advancing air, rail, pipeline and marine transportation safety.

The Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act (CTAISB Act) provides the legal framework that governs Transportation Safety Board (TSB) activities.  The mandate of the TSB – as defined in sub-section 7(1) of the CTAISB Act  – is to advance transportation safety by “conducting independent investigations … into selected transportation occurrences …”  Therefore, from the on-set, Parliament recognized that the TSB would not investigate all occurrences.

The TSB does not differentiate between accidents and serious accidents.  Information is collected about every occurrence reported to the TSB.  Each occurrence is carefully assessed and a determination is made on the type of investigation to be conducted.  The TSB undertakes investigations only in cases where there is a high potential to advance transportation safety.  The TSB makes the results of its investigations and other safety information available to regulators, industry and the public.

Although it may appear that the TSB is conducting fewer air investigations, figures show the number of air investigations started has remained fairly consistent over the past 6 years, ranging between 41 and 50 per year.  It is also important to note that there has been a significant downward trend in the accident rate for Canadian-registered aircraft over the past 10 years.

The TSB has successfully carried out all necessary investigations pursuant to its mandate, and has been adequately funded to do so.

The work of the TSB is fully compliant with Canada’s obligations to ICAO under the Chicago Convention.  In the last Report on the Safety Oversight Audit of the Civil Aviation System of Canada, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) stated “the TSB is an appropriately established, properly organized and adequately funded organization capable of accomplishing its functions and responsibilities effectively and efficiently.

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