The ATSB was formed on 1 July 1999. It combined the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI), Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) and parts of the Federal Office of Road Safety (FORS). Its central office is located at 12 Moore Street in
Canberra,
Australian Capital Territory. It has field offices in
Melbourne,
Brisbane,
Sydney and
Perth. It has about 100 employees, including about 60 Transport Safety Investigators of aviation, marine, and rail accidents and incidents. When the
Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) was formed in 1938, investigation of air safety came within its purview. During the 1950s, the Air Safety Investigation Branch (ASIB) was formed, becoming the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) in 1982, an operationally independent unit of the
Department of Aviation (DoA). In 1987, BASI was transferred to the
Department of Transport and Communications (DoTaC) when DoA was abolished.
Marine safety investigation The Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) was created on 1 January 1991, under the direction of the Inspector of Marine Accidents, a statutory position. Previously, significant marine accident investigations were conducted by a Court of Marine Inquiry, a model which was adopted in 1921, via amendment to the
Navigation Act 1912 (Cwlth). This was based on United Kingdom law and practices dating back to the 1850s. Currently, the ATSB investigates accidents and serious incidents of Australian
flagged ships worldwide, and of foreign flagged ships within Australian waters. Australia is a Council member of the
International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Rail safety investigation Until formation of the ATSB, rail safety had been the responsibility of each state government. With the enactment of the
Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (Cwlth), the ATSB gained jurisdiction for rail incident and accident investigations on the
Defined Interstate Rail Network (DIRN), consisting of the standard gauge track linking all major Australian mainland cities and ports. In December 2009, the
Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to adopt the ATSB as the national rail safety investigator, in conjunction with the formation of a national rail safety regulator. The Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) and the Chief Investigator Transport Safety (CITS), continue to investigate rail accidents and incidents in conjunction with the ATSB, in
New South Wales and
Victoria, respectively. ==ATSB operations==