โ Scribed by Terry Baxter
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The primary reason for investigation of transportation accidents -or any accident -is to learn what happened, and why it happened so that changes can be made to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents. In order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, the council or agency conducting the investigation must be totally separate and independent from the agency, ministry or company that is responsible for operations, regulations or surveillance. This independence eliminates the partisan or proprietary influence -whether they be real or imagined -that are present when an agency investigates itself. An independent investigating council is totally free to look at all aspects of the accident, including institutional factors, and to make recommendations without concern for past decisions. The true and only agenda of the independent investigator is to improve public safety. This independence also lends credibility to the investigation in the eyes of the public and the policy makers who must act to correct deficiencies revealed by the investigation. Without public support, the changes necessary to improve safety are often difficult or even impossible to bring about.
The most effective and efficient way to accomplish independent accident investigation is to have one council or agency responsible for investigations in all the modes of transportation. This allows for the sharing of safety information, accident investigation techniques and the more efficient use of technical experts. For example, specialists in certain fields such as human performance, meteorology, survival factors and the release of hazardous materials can work on investigations in more than one mode of transportation.
The advantages of the independent, multi-modal approach to the investigation of transportation accidents are discussed.
In 1966, the United States Congress created the Department of Transportation (DOT), which brought together all of the modal agencies that had responsibility for transportation.
In the safety area, each administration had a somewhat different safety mandate, and, of course, unique operations as a result of modal differences and practices. This same legislation created the NTSB, which had a primary function to investigate, or cause to be investigated, all aviation accidents and certain specified accidents in the other
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