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Recently, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s (TSB) Annual Report for 2018-19 was tabled in Parliament. The report discusses key annual statistics on occurrences in the aviation, marine, rail and pipeline modes of transportation under federal jurisdiction, and how the TSB worked to advance safety for travelers and industry workers in all four sectors across Canada and internationally.
“Advancing safety is all about change, and change is about finding ways to be more efficient as well as effective,” said TSB chair Kathy Fox. “In pursuing this goal, the board is grateful for the dedication and hard work of TSB staff and the contributions of stakeholders. The safety of Canadians everywhere, and the integrity of our infrastructure and environment, depend on it.”
Results for Canadians
The TSB’s ongoing efforts to modernize and streamline its investigation process continued to pay dividends in 2018-19.
- The agency launched 76 investigations and published 78 investigation reports. The number of investigations completed increased for a second year in a row by 18 per cent in 2018-19 and by 81 per cent since 2016-17.
- Average completion time for certain classes of investigations was reduced by nearly three months for class 2 investigations, and by 43 days for class 3 investigations.
- Since the introduction of limited scope investigations (class 4), 48 short reports were completed in less than eight months each, on average.
- In keeping with its commitment to keep the public informed on a timely and regular basis, the TSB provided 13 investigation updates on high-profile occurrences, and started posting status updates for all active class 1-3 investigations.
- In addition, the agency processed 188 confidential reports submitted through its SECURITAS program. At the end of the year, 177 SECURITAS files had been closed and 11 remained open for further follow-up.
Watchlist 2018
In October 2018, the TSB released the fifth edition of the watchlist as a call to action on seven persistent safety issues requiring government and industry attention. The Annual Report illustrates those issues and highlights some of the safety actions required to reduce the underlying risks. It also includes the links to various information and awareness products issued in support of watchlist 2018.
Other safety communications
Apart from the watchlist, the TSB issued 63 new safety communications in 2018-19, mostly directed to regulatory agencies and industry stakeholders. Those include 10 recommendations, one board safety concern, 19 safety advisories and 33 safety information letters.
Throughout the year, the board reassessed the progress achieved on a number of active recommendations. As a result:
- By April 2019, 19 outstanding recommendations had been closed as fully satisfactory.
- Since 1990, the board has made 604 recommendations, the responses to 81.5 per cent of which have led to a fully satisfactory assessment (up from almost 80 per cent at the end of 2017-18).
- Nonetheless, there were still 102 outstanding recommendations, 49 of which date from more than 10 years ago.
Outreach and parliamentary appearances
Throughout the year, TSB investigators, managers and board members carried out 86 outreach activities across the country, in all four modes, to promote watchlist 2018 and share safety messages and lessons learned from investigations. TSB senior officials appeared seven times before different parliamentary committees on matters related to transportation safety in Canada.
The Annual Report 2018-19, which is available on the TSB website, includes the list of all investigation reports released during the year with examples of safety actions taken.
