Australian Transport Safety Bureau
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1 July 1999 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Australia |
| Headquarters | 62 Northbourne Avenue Canberra ACT |
| Employees | 100 |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | www |
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 ATSB is an independent Commonwealth Government statutory agency. The ATSB 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. It has field offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth. It has about 110 employees, including about 60 investigators of aviation, marine, and rail accidents and incidents.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was formed on 1 July 1999. It combined the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI), Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) and parts of the Federal Office of Road Safety (FORS). Until the formation of the ATSB, railway safety had been the responsibility of each state government.
The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) was previously the Air Safety Investigation Branch (ASIB) of the Australian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and Department of Aviation (DoA). ASIB became BASI, an operationally independent unit of DoA, in 1982. In 1987 BASI was transferred to the Department of Transport and Communications (DoTaC) when DoA was abolished and absorbed (with other Departments) into DoTaC. The predecessor to ASIB, the Air Accident Investigation Committee was formed in 1921 "investigate all civil and military aircraft accidents that the Committee deemed advisable". When DCA was formed in 1938 investigation of air safety came within its purview. The specialist Air Safety Investigation Branch was formed in the 1950s.
The Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) was created on 1 January 1991 under the direction of the Inspector of Marine Accidents, a statutory position. Previously a model was adopted in 1921 via amendment to the Navigation Act 1912. It was based on British law and practices dating to 1850.
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