Gatineau, Quebec, 20 August 2014 — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) 2013-2014 Annual Report was tabled today in Parliament. It highlights the important work the TSB does to advance safety on our waterways, along our pipelines or railways, or in our skies from coast to coast to coast.
TSB investigators and staff have been busy responding to accidents wherever they may occur in Canada. In the past year, we started investigations into 49 accidents, including a fatal helicopter crash in the Arctic, the rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and an accident involving a bulk carrier off the east coast. We completed investigations into 69 accidents, including the 2011 crash of a large passenger aircraft in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, the 2011 crash of a turboprop aircraft just outside Vancouver’s International Airport, and the fatal derailment of a VIA Rail Canada passenger train in Burlington, Ontario, in 2012. The Board also issued a total of 71 safety communications, including 10 recommendations.
The Annual Report identifies progress made in a number of areas. Last year, 7 Board recommendations received the highest rating of Fully Satisfactory. For example, flights into Canada’s smaller airports have been made safer, as have cargo vessel voyages in the Great Lakes. However, the slow pace of movement to address safety deficiencies in aviation compared to the other modes of transportation is troubling. The Board will continue to press hard for change.
To help us fulfill our mandate more effectively, the regulations governing the reporting and investigation of occurrences were modernized. They are now easier to understand and are better aligned with other Canadian regulations and international agreements. We have also worked to improve our databases to more effectively capture occurrence information.
The TSB's 2012-2013 Annual Report to Parliament is available in HTML and full-colour PDF formats.
The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation occurrences. Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.
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For more information:
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Media Relations
819-994-8053
The TSB is online at www.tsb.gc.ca. Keep up to date through RSS, Twitter (@TSBCanada), YouTube, Flickr and our blog.
