Incident Reports Aren’t the Same as Safety investigations
I’ve noticed a common misconception in our sport that an incident report and a safety investigation are basically the same thing.
They’re not
An incident report tells us what happened. It’s the starting point.
A safety investigation asks why it happened. It looks beyond the obvious, considering human factors, operational decisions, environmental conditions, equipment, organisational influences and any other contributing factors. Most importantly, it asks what can be changed to reduce the chance of it happening again.
That’s how aviation learns. And that’s how safety improves.
Under CASA Part 149, organisations like the APF operate a Safety Management System (SMS). An effective SMS isn’t just about collecting reports. It follows a continuous process of reporting, investigation, analysis, corrective actions and, importantly, sharing what has been learned so everyone benefits. It’s also consistent with ICAO’s Safety Management System principles and the FAA’s approach of improving safety by investigating occurrences, identifying contributing factors and sharing safety lessons.
Without a proper investigation, it’s difficult to know whether the real hazards have been identified or whether the actions taken will actually reduce the risk. Sometimes the same underlying issues can remain until someone else experiences them.
That got me thinking…
Where can members find the results of the APF’s safety investigations from the last 10 years?
I’m not referring to the initial incident reports or preliminary summaries. I’m interested in the investigation outcomes—the contributing factors that were identified, the underlying hazards, the corrective actions taken and, most importantly, the lessons learned.
If these investigations have been completed, I’d genuinely like to know where members can access them. I think many of us would benefit from understanding what has been learned, because sharing those lessons is one of the most valuable functions of any Safety Management System.
After all, the purpose isn’t simply to record accidents. It’s to understand them, learn from them and help prevent them from happening again.