Re: [Aus-soaring] Safety and GFA - and independence

[Boyd Munro]

Peter Heath's point about the importance of accident investigation being independent is spot on.  I agree with him completely when he says that the GFA cannot investigate itself.   It is a pity that our government does not think so highly of independence.  Yesterday Australia suffered a tragic airline accident, our worst for 30 years.   The Safety Regulator (CASA) and the monopoly Air Traffic Service provider (Airservices) both report to the Minister for Transport.  So does the investigator (ATSB).   No matter how independently ATSB may in fact discharge its investigative responsibilities, it can hardly be seen to be independent if the Minister for Transport has ultimate responsibility for investigating possible failings in CASA and the Airservices.   Boyd Munro   ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 9:13 AM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Safety and GFA I believe Mike is getting close to the mark. For effective gliding incident and accident investigation a considerable investment in resources is required, both in people and pure logistics. There are already people within gliding who have completed the courses Jeremy Thompson has been aluding to in Brisbane. That is accident investigation and safety management systems.  The posts to date seem to expect to have someone on site kicking the tin or fibreglass will find the magic bullet to stop the accident repeating. If you were to consider James Reason's model for accidents there are many contributing factors of which about 20% have had a degree of airing on recent forums. For those not aware, shooting ( blaming) the crew as an accident cause has been discredited. Recent approaches look at the systems and processes sitting behind the operating crew.   Look at the resources on site for the Shark 02 accident and that is a basic steam driven helicopter without a high degree of modern systems. I believe from media reports the investigation team numbers on site are more than a dozen with many more specialists working behind the scenes.   Until the legislative environment changes that would give an investigater the autonomy and resources to do an effective and balanced job, leave it alone. The GFA can't investigate it self. Any accident investigation organisation has to be independant.  That's not to say it can''t be done. Might be a good focus for the Uncles Foundation if the GFA articles could be modified to permit the required degree of independance. And no I don't know how to fix that issue.     Peter Heath      _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring