Safety investigations in Estonia have been conducted since 31 March 2004 when the legal provisions stipulated in the “Railway Safety Directive” 2004/49/EC came into force within the Railways Act approved by the Parliament. At that time the safety investigation unit of railway accidents started work at the Crisis Regulation Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Before that, an investigation unit for aviation accidents had already been operating at the Crisis Regulation Department for several years. Later, an investigation unit for maritime accidents started work at the same department. With this, a single structure for safety investigations of the three transport areas was created in Estonia. Legally safety investigations were only loosely connected to the core function of the Crisis Regulation Department.