This Code provides procedures, tools and examples to assist rail transport operators (RTOs), organisations, and anyone responsible for conducting a rail safety investigation. This Code is not intended to be used for investigations of a disciplinary and regulatory prosecution.
Specifically, this Code is designed to help:

  1. compliance with the intent of the provisions and principles of the Safety Management System and prevailing rail safety standards;
  2. response in a structured, systematic and consistent manner to rail safety occurrences;
  3. identification of all contributing factors to the incident and development of safety actions to address these contributing factors;
  4. identification of any and all factors contributing to the incident, and the development of safety actions to address those contributing factors; and
  5. systemic contributors to the occurrences using investigative tools and methods.

This Code is primarily designed for the investigation of rail safety occurrences. However, the principles and practices are equally applicable to any other investigations as deemed appropriate by the RTO.