Rail Safety - Incidents & Accidents
Accident and Incident Data Reporting, Collection, Analysis and Investigation
The Department monitors safety performance through accident and incident reports collected from accredited railway organisations, trend analysis and investigations into an accident or incident.
Reporting, Collection and Analysis
An accredited railway organisation must report to the Department all notifiable accidents and incidents that happen on, or in relation to, the organisation’s railway operation. The accidents and incidents reported are in accordance with the National Occurrence Standard for Rail Incident Classification (ONS1).
The Department records all notifiable accidents and incidents in a database. The ONS1 classification system allows monitoring and analysis of rail accidents and incidents, the types of which include: fatalities, derailments, collisions, broken rail, signals passed at danger.
Under an agreement with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Department regularly provides aggregated data on rail related accident and incidents in Tasmania to the ATSB for publication on its website.
Investigations
The Department monitors internal investigations of accidents or incidents undertaken by accredited rail organisations on their own initiative or at the request of the Department and the subsequent implementation of recommendations and corrective safety actions.
The Department may undertake its own investigation or, in consultation with the Minister, appoint an independent investigator to inquire into and report on an accident or incident involving railway operations.
The focus of independent investigations is on determining the cause and contributing factors, rather than to apportion blame.
