Training to up accident investigators’ safety skills

THE Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) has invited a specialist to train local investigators how to file accident reports using an international database, chief commissioner Hubert Namani says.
Namani said Winston San Martin, from Santiago in Chile, was a specialist from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) who would train local AIC investigators for two weeks on the accident/incident data reporting system.
“The course has been developed by ICAO to support State Safety Programmes (SSP) and Safety Management Systems (SMS) with data collection, analysis and exchange of information among States as required under ICAO Annex 19,” Martin said in a statement.
“The analysis of standardised data at global level helps to better understand the causes of aviation accidents and serious incidents to aid in the detection of potentially serious safety hazards and to enhance aviation safety everywhere.”
Martin said that the ECCAIRS database was a PC application tool to assist states in collecting, analysing and sharing their aviation safety information.
Namani supported the ICAO position that a common taxonomy was indispensable for defining safety issues by enabling a common interpretation of safety data.
“In this context, through the PNG AIC embracing ECCAIRS, it will facilitate electronic information exchange and integration among organisations from various countries, as well as the analysis of safety data originating from multiple sources. PNG is committed to playing a key role in improving the safety of aviation globally, and through ICAO has opened the course to investigators from the region,” he said.
Minister for Civil Aviation Alfred Manasseh said PNG’s AIC was a strong independent investigation body in the Asia-Pacific region.
Manasseh said he was pleased that the AIC was able to host an aircraft accident investigator from Mongolia to attend the two-week ECCAIRS course.
The training course is funded by the Australian government.