Incident investigation
Introduction
The Independent Authority for the Technical Investigation of Accidents and Incidents, officially Independent Administrative Authority for the Technical Investigation of Railway, Maritime and Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents, is a future Spanish public body "Public Body (Spain)"), of independent character "Independent Administrative Authority (Spain)"), which aims to improve safety through the prevention and, where appropriate, technical investigation of accidents and incidents in order to determine their causes and establish the corrective measures that are pertinent.[1].
As an independent authority, it is governed by the law that created it, its organic status and, in a subsidiary manner, by those other rules of the legal system that could affect it and that are compatible with its nature and autonomy. For organizational and budgetary purposes, it is linked to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, a department that acts as a link between the Government and the Authority.[1].
The Authority is made up of a Council, made up of a president and six advisors, all of them appointed by the king, at the proposal of the Government and with the necessary consent of the absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies. Likewise, all have a six-year term, with no possibility of re-election.[1].
History
Background
The technical investigation of accidents and incidents of the different means of transport has always been the responsibility of the Government department responsible for transport policy, mainly the Ministry of Development - today called the Ministry of Transport -, although also, while they existed, the Ministries of the Navy "Ministry of the Navy (Spain)") and of the Air "Ministerio del Aire (Spain)"), through governing bodies such as the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy, the General Directorate of Railways or the General Directorate of Aviation Civil "General Directorate of Civil Aviation (Spain)").
The development of international regulations related to transport and its investigation led to the creation in 1974 of the first body dedicated to the investigation of accidents in Spain, the Civil Aviation Accident Commission, attached to the Undersecretariat of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Air. Railways.[4].