Types of Safety Communications

The following is a list of the different types of documents the Transportation Safety Board of Canada uses to communicate safety deficiencies. These documents each have an entirely different meaning and therefore, it is important that a clear distinction be made when referring to them.

Occurrence summaries are also listed at the bottom of this document. Summaries are not official safety communications but are listed for your reference.

General

The purpose of a safety communication is to ensure that identified risks are communicated to those persons or organizations best able to effect change to convince them to take remedial action.

Safety Issues Watchlist

The Watchlist identifies the safety issues investigated by the TSB that pose the greatest risks to Canadians. In each case, actions taken to date are inadequate and concrete steps must be taken on the part of industry and the regulator to eliminate these risks. Each issue identified on the list is supported by one or more safety communications: recommendations, safety concerns, safety advisories, safety information letters, investigative findings and occurrence summaries.

The Watchlist will be reviewed periodically and amended when the current safety issues are addressed and new ones emerge.

Safety Information Letters

Safety information letters are generally concerned with safety deficiencies posing relatively low risks, and are used to inform regulatory or industry stakeholders of unsafe conditions that do not require immediate remedial action. Safety information letters are used to pass information for the purposes of safety promotion or to support or clarify issues that are being examined by a stakeholder.

Safety Advisory Letters

Safety advisory letters are concerned with safety deficiencies that pose low to medium risks, and used to inform regulatory or industry stakeholders of unsafe conditions. A safety advisory letter suggests remedial action to reduce risks to safety.

Safety Concerns

Safety concerns focus on an identified unsafe condition for which there is insufficient evidence to validate a systemic safety deficiency. However, the risks posed by this unsafe condition warrant highlighting. A safety concern provides a marker to the industry and the regulator that the Board has insufficient information to warrant further recommendations at this time; however, as more data and analysis become available, the Board will return to this unsafe condition if it is not readily redressed.

Safety Recommendations

The Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act (CTAISB Act) makes specific provision for the Board to make recommendations to correct identified safety deficiencies. Recommendations are used to address those systemic safety deficiencies posing the highest risks to the transportation system and, therefore, warranting the highest levels of regulatory and corporate attention.

Responses to TSB Safety Recommendations

The CTAISB Act requires that federal ministers provide formal responses as to actions taken or planned in response to TSB recommendations. The Act does not mandate responses by other stakeholders to whom Board recommendations are issued. Notwithstanding, these stakeholders are requested to provide a response, and normally do so.

Although responses to other forms of safety communications are not requested or expected, the TSB often receives responses to safety advisory and safety information letters, and the substance of these responses are reflected in the Board's investigation report.

Occurrence Summaries

Occurrence summaries provide a brief synopsis of the data collected for possible safety analysis, statistical reporting or archival purposes. These are occurrences for which full investigations were not conducted. All of the relevant information is tracked in the TSB database.