The Transport Agency has formal relationships with the Transport Accident Investigation Commission(external link) and WorkSafe(external link). Nothing in the relationship detracts from the individual regulatory responsibilities of the parties.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC)
www.taic.org.nz(external link)
The Transport Agency works with TAIC when a serious accident or incident is reported. We have an agreed “watchlist” that ensures we bring matters to TAIC’s attention once they have been notified to us by rail participants.
The watchlist includes:
- Safety for pedestrians and vehicles using level crossings. The TAIC currently only wishes to be advised of level crossing incidents involving heavy vehicles collisions or near collisions at level crossings. This should also extend to incidents of ‘grounding-out’ involving heavy vehicles which do not involve a collision or near collision.
- Substance use: regulatory environment for preventing performance impairment - Judgement, decision making, and reaction time can all be affected by the use of drugs and alcohol. The use of performance-impairing substances by persons performing safety-critical tasks in a transport environment is a significant risk.
- Technologies to track and to locate. The operators of aircraft, ships, boats and rail vehicles underuse currently available tracking and locating technologies. Such technologies can reduce the risk of things going wrong, improve survival chances after an accident occurs, help ensure a lost vehicle and its occupants are found, and help us to learn what went wrong in order to improve safety.
WorkSafe NZ
www.worksafe.govt.nz(external link)
Our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) describes how we work with WorkSafe.
The Transport Agency will notify Worksafe of an incident or accident involving serious injury or death of a rail worker or passenger, particularly those involving tunnels.
