Page 17 - Report of the railway accidents investigated in 2023

2. Investigation processes
2.1 Cases to be investigated
Mandatory safety investigations of occurrences affecting railway safety by Safety Investigation Bureau are specified by the Railways Act. In Estonia there is a list of occurrences affecting railway safety in effect which is identical to the classification presented in the European Parliament and Council Directive (EC) 2016/798 from 11 May 2016 on railway safety. The terminology concerning railway safety is in accordance with that used in the Directive.
The safety investigation of a severe or serious accident must be initiated by the Safety Investigation Bureau without delay. If in certain circumstances an accident or incident might have caused a serious accident, as well as a technical failure of a sub- system or component of the inter-European railway system, the ESIB has a right to initiate a safety investigation. In making the decision the ESIB must consider the severity of the accident or incident and whether it is part of a series of accidents or incidents that affect the system as a whole and its effect on railway safety. When initiating a safety investigation of an accident or incident the ESIB also considers applications submitted by a safety investigation body of another European Union member state, the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority and infrastructure managers and railway undertakings.
In addition to legislation and the Minister’s Directive the Safety Investigation Bureau also has developed and introduced an organisational “Safety Investigation manual”. In 2023 the ESIB reviewed and updated the manual. The document was registered in the document management system Delta on 06 November 2023. The manual contains a cross-sector appendix AMR1 “Hearing, questioning and taking statements”. The manual contains 7 appendices about the railway sector that are marked by the letter R and the relevant serial number. The appendices carry the following headings: Safety instructions for the ESIB associate working on the railway network in the railway danger zone, Dataset of technical evidence that needs to be collected (Checklist) in case of an occurrence on the railway, Characteristics of a railway accident or incident for making the decision to begin a safety investigation or formulating an opinion, Analysis of the safety management system in the safety investigation of railway accidents and incidents, Causes of the occurrence and follow
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Annual report 2023