Are you a transport employee wanting to report a safety concern? Make a confidential report through the Confidential Safety Information Reporting Scheme (CSIRS)
Employees in the public passenger transport sectors (of rail, bus and ferry industries), have the right to make a confidential report under the provisions of Section 46E of the Passenger Transport Act 1990.
The Confidential Safety Information Reporting Scheme (CSIRS) gives employees in the transport industry a confidential way to make a report about a safety issue affecting a bus, rail or ferry service.
Making a report is voluntary, confidential and non-punitive.
The benefits of the scheme are that employees can report:
You can make a confidential report in two ways:
Once a CSIRS report is received, an OTSI Transport Safety Investigator will review it and confirm that the matter raised is a safety issue that falls within the remit of OTSI.
The investigator will advise you if the issue is not one that OTSI can action.
If the CSIRS report is accepted for action, the investigator will discuss it with you and obtain your agreement to raise the matter with the relevant organisation.
OTSI will forward a de-identified report to the relevant authority or organisation and ask for a response on the safety issue raised. If it is confirmed there is an issue to address, OTSI will liaise with the organisation to gain their commitment to actions that will address it.
Following the completion of the investigation you will be contacted directly by an OTSI investigator with information on the outcomes.
If a matter uncovers significant operational safety concerns it may be published as a CSIRS Outcome Report.
These reports document:
By law, the Chief Investigator must not disclose to any other person, or to any court, any information that may identify an employee who provides information under the CSIRS unless the employee consents to the disclosure, or the Chief Investigator or a court is of the opinion that it is necessary in the public interest that the information be disclosed (s46E of the Passenger Transport Act 1990 ). This protection does not apply to organisations.
You can view completed CSIRS Outcome Reports on this website.