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Section 2: Analysis of Program Activities

2.1  Strategic Outcome

The mitigation of risks to the safety of the transportation system through independent accident investigations.

2.2  Program Activities

The TSB has four key program activities, which are the safety investigations in the following four transportation systems:

• Air
• Marine
• Rail
• Pipeline

Within each program, personnel conduct independent safety investigations into transportation occurrences. They identify causes and contributing factors, assess risks to the system, formulate recommendations to improve safety, publish investigation reports, communicate safety information to stakeholders, undertake outreach activities with key change agents, as well as assess and follow up on responses to recommendations. These activities are carried out by highly qualified investigators who are experts in the transportation operational sectors. They also work closely with personnel who are responsible for executing specialized work in the following fields: engineering and technical, macro analysis, human performance and publications and linguistics.

The following tables present the expected results, performance indicators and targets for each of the TSB's program activities. These data are only on an indication basis because the development of the TSB performance management framework is not yet completed.

Air Investigations

Program Activity: Air Investigations
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)
2009-2010		2010-2011		2011-2012
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
97	12,779	97	12,779	97	12,779
Program Activity Expected Results		Performance Indicators		Targets
Increased productivity while conducting investigations		Number of investigation reports published Mean time for completing investigation reports		Publication of 60 investigation reports Mean time for completing investigation reports is less than 15 months
Increased effectiveness of safety communications		To be determined		To be determined

 

Planning Highlights

To achieve the expected results, the Air Investigations Branch will have to maintain its investigation capabilities during a year that will see many staff and management retiring. This activity will include training for new staff, the transfer of corporate knowledge from employees before their departure from the TSB, and training for all on the recent changes in the aviation industry.

The Air Investigations Branch will strive to ensure that the number of ongoing investigations does not exceed the Branch's ability to produce investigation reports. It is currently able to produce approximately 60 investigation reports per year.

The Air Investigations Branch will also continue its efforts to establish and maintain professional external relationships, and will work collaboratively with its internal partners to make more effective use of TSB resources.

The Branch will continue to review its policies, procedures and manuals of investigations to ensure that they are up to date with the current international investigation standards.

Marine Investigations

Program Activity: Marine Investigations
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)
2009-2010		2010-2011		2011-2012
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
39	5,112	39	5,112	39	5,112
Program Activity Expected Results		Performance Indicators		Targets
Improved productivity while conducting investigations		Number of investigation reports published Mean time for completing investigation reports		Publication of all reports on investigations started in 2008-2009 Mean time for completing investigation reports is less than 15 months
Increased effectiveness of safety communications		To be determined		To be determined

 

Planning Highlights

To achieve the expected results, the Marine Investigations Branch will continue to carefully assess occurrences on which investigations will be undertaken to obtain maximum safety payoff while applying a project management approach to make effective use of the Branch resources. Furthermore, the implementation of TSB's investigation methodology will be reinforced in all steps of the investigation process for consistency and quality of investigations.

The Branch will also improve the effectiveness of Board safety recommendations by making sure that the staff consistently apply the recommendation development process, as identified by the Chair's Challenge initiative, through strategic communication with key stakeholders.

Finally, the Branch will continue to update and implement a strategic-focused approach to human resources planning to ensure the continuity and stability of service delivery. It will complete the staffing of vacant positions, as identified in its staffing plan. The newly hired staff will then be equipped with requisite skill sets and competency by training and coaching in key areas of investigation.

Rail Investigations

Program Activity: Rail Investigations
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)
2009-2010		2010-2011		2011-2012
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
32	4,879	32	4,879	32	4,879
Program Activity Expected Results		Performance Indicators		Targets
Increased productivity while conducting investigations		Number of investigation reports published Mean time for completing investigation reports		Publication of 12 investigation reports Mean time for completing investigation reports is less than 18 months
Increased effectiveness of safety communications		To be determined		To be determined

 

Planning Highlights

To achieve the expected results in the area of rail transportation, the Rail/Pipeline Investigations Branch will produce more concise investigation reports. In order to make effective use of limited resources, the Branch will be working more closely with the Operational Services.

Another priority will be to provide training resources to newly hired investigative staff, as well as refresher training to other staff in various areas, including investigation methodology, technical analysis, hazardous materials and communications.

In addition to the timely publication of investigation reports, the Rail/Pipeline Investigations Branch will improve safety communications by early communication of validated deficiencies.

Finally, the Branch will improve the database of railway occurrences to address concerns raised by the Railway Safety Act Review Panel. This will be achieved through working with the three major rail companies to develop the technological means to directly download occurrence reports into the statistical database.

Pipeline Investigations

Program Activity: Pipeline Investigations
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)
2009-2010		2010-2011		2011-2012
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
3	464	3	464	3	464
Program Activity Expected Results		Performance Indicators		Targets
Increased productivity while conducting investigations		Number of investigation reports published Mean time for completing investigation reports		Publication of 1 investigation report Mean time for completing a class 3 report is 15 months, and 18 months for a class 2 report

 

2.3  Internal Services – Program Activity

The Internal Services program activity supports TSB's strategic outcome. It consists of the groups of activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of the TSB. These groups are: management and oversight services; communications services; legal services; human resources services; financial and administrative services (including facilities, materiel and acquisition services); information management services; and information technology services.

Internal Services

Financial Resources ($ thousands)			Human Resources (FTE)
2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012	2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012
5,710	5,708	5,708	64	64	64

 

Planning Highlights

In the coming year, the Executive Director will place an emphasis on solidifying the various organizational changes that have resulted from the recently completed A-base review exercise. Particular attention will be placed on evaluating how the new governance structure is functioning. A continued focus will be report timeliness and ensuring the operational capacity of the organization.

The priority of the Communications Division will be to increase the effectiveness of communications and outreach planning by adopting new initiatives that improve the visibility, access and understanding of TSB's safety messages, and in turn, help strengthen the uptake of the Board's recommendations. To this end, the Communications Division will continue to seek opportunities to connect with the public, the media and key change agents, to maximize the impact of the Board Outreach Program, and to generate growing awareness of the TSB by Canadians.

In addition to ensuring the ongoing provision of quality internal services to its clients, the Corporate Services Directorate will focus its efforts on three key priorities in 2009-2010. First, the Directorate will continue its efforts to implement its own human resources plan and to stabilize its workforce. Second, emphasis will be placed on the various projects that were assigned to Corporate Services (see the Management Priorities table at the end of Section 1.2) in order to improve the practices, controls or infrastructure in the areas of information technology, information management, human resources and finance. Finally, efforts will be made to review, update and streamline internal policies and procedures to reduce the administrative burden and improve efficiency of the organization.

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