Page 21 - Report of the railway accidents investigated in 2021

Annual report 2021
investigation makes an initial assessment of the occurrence and makes a proposal to the Director of the ESIB either to initiate a safety investigation or not. The official will propose deferring the decision of initiating an investigation only if gathering necessary additional information requires more time. The decision about a requirement to visit the scene is based on the verbal notification. If the occurrence turns out to be a serious accident based on the initial verbal notification the official notifies the Director of the Safety Investigation Bureau immediately by telephone, in other cases an email is sufficient. The Director of the ESIB maintains records of notifications received. The official responsible for safety investigations of railway accidents collects and stores the concentrated information in tabular form in his database. If necessary, the official conducting the safety investigation and the ESIB Director keep in regular contact to clarify the initial circumstances. The Director’s position on whether to initiate a safety investigation is final and binding to the official dealing with the railway accident investigations.
The decision whether to initiate an investigation of an accident, serious accident or incident is made within two months after receiving notification of the occurrence. The decision whether to initiate an investigation is made pursuant to Section 50 of the Railways Act and the Railway Safety Directive 2016/798. To notify the European Union Agency for Railways, after collecting the relevant information the investigator of railway accidents enters the information in the correct format to the database, at the latest one week after the decision to initiate a safety investigation has been made. The obligation to notify the ERA has been specified in Section 50 (7) of the Railways Act. Up till now the deadline for notifying the European Union Agency for Railways has never been missed.
The Safety Investigation Bureau applies a unified multi-modal approach to conducting safety investigations of accidents and incidents of the different modes of transport. This has been confirmed by The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Directive No 72 “Safety Investigation Procedures” and the ESIB Director has approved the “Safety Investigation Manual” of work procedures. The manual consists of a common main part and annexes which can be common to all three areas of transport or can be area specific. In 2021 the manual contained one common annex and 5 annexes specific to railways.
The whole safety investigation is usually conducted by the official responsible for investigating accidents in the relevant field who performs the duties of investigator-in- charge. The investigator-in-charge informs all relevant parties of the launch of a safety investigation and drafts an investigation plan. He may make changes and clarifications to the draft during the safety investigation but is fully responsible for conducting of the entire safety investigation as well as its quality and compliance. The investigator-in-charge coordinates the gathering, storage and analysis of data
and evidence as well as the contracting of experts and communications with relevant
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