TSB's 20th Anniversary

The phone rings in the middle of the night. A small fishing vessel, stricken and without power, is taking on water off the coast of Newfoundland. Emergency personnel are notified and, with search-and-rescue crews racing to the scene, investigators from the Transportation Safety Board prepare to go to work. Within hours, specialists are en route to assess the situation, interviewing witnesses and examining evidence to answer three key questions: what happened, why, and how can we stop it from happening again?

For 20 years, the TSB has answered those calls, no matter whether the accident was - on our waterways, along our pipelines or railways or in our skies - we have responded. We have investigated thousands of accidents with the goal of uncovering safety lessons, we have reported our findings to Canadians making it clear what needs to be done to make the system safer.

Now as we enter our third decade, we look back on 20 years of successes - many of which have been instrumental in changing operating practices, equipment, and the laws that underpin the transportation industry.

Thanks to the Transportation Safety Board, international regulators now require vessels to carry increased numbers of survival suits for those aboard, and all passengers must now receive a safety briefing prior to each voyage. Our work has prompted improvements in pipeline spacing, and substantive changes in the federal electrical code. Our rail investigations have resulted in improved emergency information for passengers, removal of defective wheels and safer storage of dangerous goods near our cities. In the aviation world we have been influential in reducing the risk of fires propagating aboard aircraft. We have worked to ensure pilots no longer land where visibility is poor, and that they do land at the first sign of smoke from an unknown source.

None of these successes would be possible without the qualified, dedicated experts of the Transportation Safety Board. These men and women come from diverse professional backgrounds: airline pilots, rail and pipeline operators, computer technicians, journalists, lawyers, engineers, fishermen, and members of the Canadian forces - to name just a few. All of them, in turn, are committed to our core values: competence, openness, fairness, integrity and respect - and committed to making the Transportation Safety Board a leader in advancing transportation safety, both in Canada and abroad.

This year, on March 29, we'll mark our 20th anniversary. Not only do we want to celebrate, but we think it's time to let the rest of Canada know about some of the fine work we do. Elsewhere on this site, you'll find testimonials from some of our staff: they'll tell you stories, and share some of their favourite memories from the past two decades. Mostly, though, they'll tell you why working at the TSB matters, why going to work each day is something that they're proud of, and what it means not only to make Canada safer, but also to save lives.

Wendy A. Tadros

Chair, Transportation Safety Board

TSB History

TSB Staff Video Testimonials