Page 19 - Report of the railway accidents investigated in 2023

Annual report 2023 penalty charge of up to 60 000 euros to a legal person and up to 1500 euros to a
natural person.
A cooperation agreement between the Safety Investigation Bureau and the Police and Border Guard Board, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Rescue Board and the Emergency Centre was signed in the spring of 2015. The cooperation agreement stipulates coordinated activities in the processing of cases of common interest to the parties. Cooperation partners mutually ensure that criminal investigations and safety investigations are not interfered with. According to the cooperation agreement the Emergency Centre sends an immediate notification to the ESIB email address of any occurrence they have been informed of which will arrive in the inbox of all the ESIB officials. In 2023, the Emergency Centre sent case reports to the ESIB selectively. The Safety Investigation Bureau did not receive information from the Emergency Centre about all the occurrences on the railway known to it. If possible, the Police and Boarder Guard and the Rescue Board ensure safeguarding of the scene. If necessary, they will assist the ESIB with the investigation once the rescue operations have finished. All parties allow access to evidence and information, unless forbidden by law. Disclosure of data collected as part of the criminal proceedings is decided by the prosecutor’s office. Ensuring access and disclosure of evidence cannot hinder the safety investigation or criminal proceedings. If necessary, the parties consult each other and where possible, exchange information. Criminal proceedings and the safety investigation are conducted separately even if they work in cooperation with each other.
Based on practical experience, pragmatic cooperation methods with various businesses, authorities, institutions, and private individuals have been developed during safety investigations. The Safety Investigation Bureau has signed cooperation agreements with the safety investigation authorities of European Union member states Finland, the northern neighbour, and Latvia, the southern neighbour.
If an accident involves a railway infrastructure manager established and licensed in another Member State of the European Union and a railway rolling stock that has been involved in an occurrence affecting railway safety that has been registered or maintained in that Member State, the legislation provides an obligation to invite investigative bodies of that country to participate in the safety investigation and they are given access to the relevant information. Thus far, there has been no requirement to use this provision. Neither has it been necessary to ask for help from the safety investigation bodies of other countries or the European Union Agency for Railways with specialist knowledge, technical inspection, performing analysis and giving assessments although legislation allows this.
When conducting a safety investigation, the investigator-in-charge has all the powers to decide on inclusion, interpretation of the information obtained and systematic treatment of facts, knowledge, and circumstances. The information obtained in the safety investigation and the results obtained from its use are reflected in the content 19