Cabin Safety Bulletin 15 Cabin safety incident analysis

A cabin safety bulletin is an advisory document that alerts, educates and makes recommendations about cabin safety matters. Recommendations in this bulletin are not mandatory.

Who does this bulletin apply to?

This document applies to all operators of Australian registered aircraft and should be read in conjunction with section 82 of the Civil Aviation Orders as they relate to a Safety Management System.

What is the purpose of this bulletin?

This bulletin provides operator guidance material for cabin investigators responsible for investigating an incident. The bulletin is an extension of Cabin Safety Bulletin number 14 and will assist investigators with information analysis when building an occurrence report following a fire; smoke or fumes occurrence.

Information to facilitate  Cabin safety incident analysis (pdf 396.41 KB) is classified under the headings:

• general information
• operator documentation
• documentation of the State Aviation Authority
• documentation from other sources
• aircraft — cabin specific
• human performance — cabin crew
• human performance — passengers.

Other aspects required during an incident investigation are outside the scope of this bulletin.

The bulletin does not seek to replace formal cabin investigator training.

This bulletin describes an example of an acceptable means, but not the only means, of demonstrating compliance with regulations and standards. On its own this bulletin does not change, create, amend or permit deviations from regulatory requirements, nor does it establish minimum standards.

Additional resources

1. International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 13 Aircraft accident and incident investigation
2. International Civil Aviation Organisation (Circular 344) Guidelines on education, training and reporting practices related to fume events
3. International Civil Aviation Organisation (Circular 315) Hazards at aircraft accident sites
4. International Civil Aviation Organisation (2017) (Doc 10062) Manual on the investigation of cabin safety aspects in accidents and incident
5. International Civil Aviation Organisation (Circular 298) Training guidelines for aircraft accident investigators

ICAO define an incident as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft which affects or could affect the safety of operation

Information analysis for cabin safety investigators has been extracted from ICAO Doc 10062 Manual on the investigation of cabin safety aspects in accidents and incidents, first edition 2017