[Peetwo]

The current clusterduck that is the ATSB: Part II

One of the other spin-offs of Albo's 2009 amendment to the TSI Act was that the strategic direction of the ATSB is now documented in the ATSB Corporate Plan and in the 'Entity resources and planned performance' budgetary statement: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/...9_ATSB.pdf
 

 1.1 Strategic direction statement

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is an independent statutory agency of the Australian Government conducting safety investigations in the aviation, rail and interstate and overseas shipping modes of transport. It is governed by a Commission and is entirely separate from transport regulators, policy makers and service providers.

The ATSB’s purpose is defined by its mission statement:

• Improve transport safety for the greatest public benefit through our independent investigations and influencing safety action.

In reference to the public benefit:

• The ATSB focusses on the public interest where the safety of passengers and workers on an aircraft, train or ship is concerned. The ATSB focusses on the public interest when it comes to the significant costs that can result from an accident, particularly where there is significant damage to public infrastructure or an impact on the national economy.

The Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) makes it clear that, in carrying out its purpose, the ATSB cannot apportion blame, assist in determining liability or, as a general rule, assist in court proceedings.

Through independent investigations, the ATSB seeks to identify safety issues for action by organisations with responsibility for managing risk. The ATSB’s approach to identifying safety issues encompasses targeting safety improvements for the greatest public benefit. The safety issues the ATSB identifies are characteristic of an organisation or a system rather than a characteristic of a specific individual. The ATSB directs its resources to investigations that have the broadest safety effect on transport systems.

The ATSB does not have powers to force operators, manufacturers and regulators to take action. The ATSB relies on its ability to influence. An influencer uses their authority, knowledge, position and relationship to shape the decisions of others. The ATSB builds relationships with others to support safety action. The ATSB has stakeholders willing to be advocates for safety messaging. Where the ATSB is concerned that not enough is being done in response to safety issues being raised, the ATSB will work to campaign for action that prevents accidents.

The ATSB does not have the resources to investigate every accident and incident that occurs in the aviation, rail and marine sectors each year. In order to provide assurance that the ATSB’s finite resources are being used for the greatest safety benefit, the ATSB will continue to work with government and industry stakeholders to clarify the priorities for its existing jurisdiction and the potential for its expansion. For rail investigations, the ATSB relies on the resources provided by the states and territories through agreements.

The ATSB maintains a national information set of all safety-related occurrences in aviation and of all accidents and significant safety occurrences in rail and the interstate and overseas marine sectors. The information it holds is essential to its capacity to analyse broad safety trends and inform its investigation and safety education work, as well as constituting an important public information resource. The ATSB is enhancing its capacity for a data driven approach to the performance of its investigation, research, communication and education functions.

The ATSB is committed to close engagement with its international counterpart agencies and relevant multilateral organisations. The ATSB places a specific emphasis on engagement with countries in the Asia–Pacific region, particularly with Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The ATSB invests in studying and contributing to the methodologies and techniques used by accident investigation authorities in transport and non-transport modes across the world. The ATSB does this by employing academic discipline, supported by our partnership with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. The ATSB’s partnership with RMIT to deliver transport safety investigation qualifications commits the ATSB to investing in the training and skill development of people in a position to support improvements to transport safety.

Detailed information about the ATSB's purpose, operating context, activities and performance measures is published in the ATSB Corporate Plan available at: https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5780101/at...021-22.pdf. 

And from the current corporate plan we (apparently) get a real insight of Popinjay's interpretation of the current strategic direction of the ATSB...

Ref: https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/fi...022-23.pdf

INTRODUCTION



I am pleased to present the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s (ATSB) Corporate Plan, which covers the period 2022-23 to 2025-26.

This Corporate Plan has been prepared consistent with paragraph 35(1)(b) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and the relevant provisions of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (the TSI Act), which establishes the ATSB. The Corporate Plan is also consistent with the Minister’s revised Statement of Expectations 2021–23 (SOE) for the ATSB, as notified under Section 12AE of the TSI Act. The SOE sets out clear expectations that the ATSB’s resources be used in an efficient, effective, economical and ethical way, following best practice principles and guidelines.

I acknowledge this continues to be a time of great uncertainty for the transport industry in general, and aviation in particular. As an independent safety agency, the ATSB is continuing to apply our safety knowledge and expertise and carefully monitoring the return to safe and reliable transport operations. As an operational agency, the ATSB continues to deploy accident investigation teams where and when necessary during this pandemic.

I look forward to working with the newly elected Federal Government, to ensure the Bureau is well positioned to meet the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government’s expectations for the ATSB’s role in improving transport safety. I acknowledge the ongoing uncertainty for Australia’s transport industries operating in an evolving COVID-normal environment and the challenging economic conditions that these sectors face. I am also mindful that such challenges will need to be internally managed to ensure the ATSB maintains its ability to undertake and meet prescribed functions and key deliverables.

I have been the ATSB’s Chief Commissioner for 12 months now. I am aware of the calls stemming from a number of inquiries and associated reports, seeking to extend the ATSB’s services through an expanded remit. The ATSB will provide input into those inquiries as required. However, any decisions to change the ATSB’s remit are a matter for Government. It is my immediate priority to address the ATSB’s existing budgetary challenges – specifically the shortfalls in rail investigation resources resulting from unsustainable funding arrangements outside our core appropriations.

In my time as Chief Commissioner the ATSB has demonstrated itself to me as a highly capable organisation. In the past 12 months we have released a number of complex and industry significant reports that carry wide-ranging safety implications to the relevant transport modes; one such report is the ATSB’s investigation into the mid-air collision near Mangalore Airport in Victoria in 2020. The investigation highlighted the importance of air traffic hazard assessment and the value of aircraft owners installing Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) devices to assist pilots with the identification and avoidance of conflicting traffic. Other significant investigations include an investigation into a level crossing accident north-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia in 2021 highlighted the risks of driver distraction and the consequences when heavy vehicles and trains operate in the same geographical space and, an investigation into a collision between a bulk carrier and a fishing vessel off the entrance to Port Adelaide in South Australia in 2020 highlighted the need for crew to keep a lookout by all available means including use of radar, radio and automatic identification systems. 

As a relatively small operationally-focused agency, the ATSB will need to anticipate change and adapt to ensure we are meeting the needs of government, industry, and the traveling public. Accordingly, I have been working with staff from across the agency to develop a strategic plan that clearly identifies the key objectives, strategies and actions to be given priority over the short to medium term. The plan, to be released this financial year, will have a focus on:

• enhancing our products and stakeholder engagement for improving transport safety
  
• fostering organisational resilience 
  
• affirming our role as the national transport safety investigator.
  

An example of the immediate action we are taking, is the greater utilisation of audio-visual content which will increase consumption of our investigation reports and advance important safety messaging. Stakeholders can also expect the ATSB to produce more statistical and research-based outputs ensuring we are making the best use of available data and the specialist capabilities of our people. We will balance these actions with our core occurrence investigation activities which must continue to be managed within our demand/capacity limitations as this will enable us to expedite production and publishing timeframes.

The strategic plan will position the ATSB to be able to provide greater value for persons and organisations seeking to use our products to take safety action.

Based on my recent interactions with a range of prominent overseas safety investigation bodies, it is evident the ATSB is considered a highly reputable agency and world leading. As Chief Commissioner, I am fully committed to continuing to work innovatively and collaboratively with all relevant stakeholders to enhance and amplify our contribution to improving transport safety both domestically and internationally.

The ATSB continues to work towards achieving its new performance measures established in the 2020-21 Corporate Plan. Through revised performance criteria, we are focused on improving our timeliness, demonstrating safety action taken in response to our investigations, ensuring our findings are defendable, and using our resources efficiently and effectively.

Angus Mitchell
Chief Commissioner and CEO

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"..continues to work towards achieving its new performance measures established in the 2020-21 Corporate Plan..."

Refer to pages 12 to 14 here: https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/fi...020-21.pdf

Where to start with all these bollocks statements? - How about pg 11 (241) of the ATSB budgetary statement at KPI5:

KPI 5 – Median time to complete
investigations:
• Short investigations - 7 months
• Defined investigations - 14 months
• Systemic investigations - 20 months

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Tracking towards 7 months
Tracking towards 14 months
Tracking towards 20 month

'Tracking'?? - Err really: Proof of ATSB delays and ICAO Annex 13 non-compliance??

1. AO-2020-043 (Short)
2. AO-2020-059 (Defined)
3. AO-2020-060 (Short)
4. AO-2021-004 (Short)
5. AO-2021-022 (Short)
6. AO-2021-017 (Short with preliminary report issued - WTF??)
7. AO-2021-035 (Short)
8. AO-2020-059 (Note: This is a 'Defined' investigation and did have an update 2 months after the accident but none since)
9. AO-2020-060 (Short)
10. AO-2021-004 (Short)
11. AO-2021-018 (Systemic)
12. AO-2021-022 (Short)
13. AO-2021-032 (Short with a preliminary report attached and a safety advisory notice issued)
14. AO-2021-035 (Short)
15. AO-2021-044 (Short)
16. AO-2021-043 (Short)
17. AO-2021-048 (Systemic)
18. AO-2021-047 (Defined)
19. AO-2022-007 (Defined)
20. AO-2022-010 (Defined)
21. AO-2022-012 (Defined)
22. AO-2022-019 (Defined that bizarrely did issue an interim report 7 months after the incident)
23. AO-2022-025 (Short)
24. AO-2022-030 (Short)
25. AO-2022-031 (Short)
26. AO-2022-033 (Short)
27. AO-2022-032 (Short with a preliminary issued)
28. AO-2022-035 (Short)
29. AO-2022-036 (Short)
30. AO-2022-038 (Short)
31. AO-2022-039 (Short)
32. AO-2022-040 (Short)
33. AO-2022-042 (Short)
34. AO-2022-046 (Short)
35. AO-2022-049 (Short)
36. AO-2022-050 (Short)
37. AO-2022-053 (Short)
38. AO-2022-054 (Short)
39. AO-2022-052 (Occurrence Investigation)
40. AO-2022-055 (Short)
41. AO-2022-056 (Short)
42. AO-2022-058 (Short)
43. AO-2022-060 (Short)
44. AO-2022-061 (Short)
45. AO-2022-063 (Short)
46. AO-2022-062 (Short)
47. AO-2022-059 (Short)
48. AO-2022-064 (Short)
49. AO-2022-065 (Short)
50. AO-2022-066 (Occurrence Investigation)
51. AO-2022-067 (Defined)
52. AO-2022-068 (Occurrence Investigation)
53. AO-2023-002 (Short - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)
54. AO-2023-004 (Short - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)
55. AO-2023-005 (Short - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)
56. AO-2023-007 (Occurrence Investigation - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)
57. AO-2023-008 (Systemic - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)
58. AO-2023-009 (Short - Past 30 day limit for preliminary report)

Is there anyone who is actually going to hold Popinjay to account on reneging on honouring many of these so called non-performance indicators?? - 


MTF? - Yes much!..P2