News release

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s (TSB) annual report for 2023-24 was tabled in Parliament. The report highlights the TSB’s major achievements and the work it has done to advance transportation safety on Canada’s waterways, along its pipelines and railways, and in its skies in over the last year.

“In 2023-24, we released 43 investigation reports, issued eight safety recommendations, three safety concerns, and seven safety advisories on changes needed in the air, marine, and rail sectors,” says TSB Chair Kathy Fox. “We remain determined to continue to push for action where we feel more can be done to make the transportation system, and by extension all Canadians, safer.”

The year in results

• The TSB began 65 new investigations and completed 43 across all four transportation sectors (air, marine, pipeline, and rail).
• TSB investigators deployed 72 times to the sites of some of these occurrences, to collect data and carry out analysis in order to identify what happened and why, and highlight known and emerging safety issues.
• There was an 11% increase in fatalities (118) across all transportation sectors in 2023 over 2022 (106). The 2023 total represents a 4% decrease in fatalities from the 10-year average.
• The TSB completed nine technical reports for foreign investigation agencies.
• The TSB received 271 confidential SECURITAS reports in 2023–24. This number is higher than the 188 reports received the previous year.

Major investigations and safety communications

In November 2023, the TSB released investigation report (M21A0065) into the 2021 fatal sinking of the fishing vessel Tyhawk. The investigation prompted two recommendations to Transport Canada to refine the definition of major modifications to a vessel and to require modifications be assessed by a competent person. A third recommendation was issued to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, calling for adequate identification of safety hazards and associated risks to fish harvesters when fisheries resource management decisions are being made.

In December, the TSB’s investigation report (M21C0214) into the 2021 fatal accident aboard the fishing vessel Suvak was released, and the Board called on Transport Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and the territories to review the occupational health and safety oversight of fishing vessels registered in the territories to ensure effective workplace safety oversight.

In February 2024, as we released our investigation report (A21C0038) into the 2021 fatal helicopter crash on Griffith Island, Nunavut, the Board issued four recommendations to Transport Canada, three of which build on outstanding recommendations going back more than three decades, calling for the implementation of safety measures to mitigate the risks that persist in helicopter reduced visibility operations.

Throughout the year, the TSB also issued 21 safety communications, primarily directed to regulatory agencies and industry stakeholders. As well, the Board assessed the responses to 60 active recommendations. During this review cycle, responses to three recommendations were assessed as Fully Satisfactory, our highest rating: one in air transportation safety (A21-01), one in marine transportation safety (M99-02), and one in rail transportation safety (R22-01). Since 1990, the Board has made 634 recommendations, the responses to 83% of which have led to a Fully Satisfactory assessment by the end of 2023-24.

The annual report for 2023-24 is available on the TSB website and includes the list of all investigation reports released during the year with examples of safety actions taken.