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 ATSB is an independent Commonwealth Government statutory agency, governed by a Commission and is separate from transport regulators, policy makers and service providers. History The ATSB 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). Its central office is located at 12 Moore Street in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It has field offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. It has about 100 employees, including about 60 Transport Safety Investigators of aviation, marine, and rail accidents and incidents. Air safety investigation Australian aviation accidents were initially investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Committee (AAIC), formed in 1927, to "investigate all civil and military aircraft accidents that the Committee deemed advisable". When the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) was formed in 1938, investigation of air safety came within its purview. During the 1950s, the Air Safety Investigation Branch (ASIB) was formed, becoming the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) in 1982, an operationally independent unit of the Department of Aviation (DoA). In 1987, BASI was transferred to the Department of Transport and Communications (DoTaC) when DoA was abolished.