Institutional GBA+ Capacity
As a small government department, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has a very clear mission – we conduct independent safety investigations and communicate risks in the transportation system. Our sole objective is to make the transportation system safer – a system that plays a vital role in Canada’s economy and in everyone’s life.
Our work is done in an unbiased manner for the general benefit of all Canadians regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, or mental / physical disability. However, where appropriate the TSB does not refrain from addressing issues it uncovers that may focus on a specific segment of the population so that corrective actions can be taken to improve safety for that particular group. For example, in one investigation the TSB made recommendations about proper restraint systems for infants and young children, and in another, the TSB made a recommendation to improve the safety of railway grade crossings for persons with disabilities.
The TSB has a governance model consisting of two senior-level committees: The Board and the Executive Committee (EC). Each committee includes a diverse membership. The Board is composed of five Governor-in-Council appointees - three of whom are women (including the Chair). The Board reviews and approves all TSB investigation reports and safety recommendations. The EC is composed of eight Executives and three other senior officials - five of whom are women. The EC is the main decision-making body for the organization. It provides strategic direction and approves policies, priorities, initiatives and major corporate activities.
At this time, the TSB does not have a specified GBA+ implementation plan. However, the TSB is continuing to raise awareness amongst the management team and GBA+ applicability to TSB programs and activities.
Highlights of GBA+ Results Reporting Capacity by Program
TSB Programs:
- Aviation occurrence investigations
- Marine occurrence investigations
- Rail Occurrence Investigations
- Pipeline occurrence investigations
- Internal Services
- Does this program have impacts that support the pillars and goals of the Gender Results Framework? Which ones?
The programs at the TSB do not have impacts that support the pillars and goals of the Gender Results Framework. The TSB investigates accident occurrences and makes recommendations for transportation safety to industry and Transport Canada.
- Does this program collect sufficient data to enable it to monitor and/or report program impacts by gender and diversity (GBA+)?
The TSB programs do not collect sufficient data to enable monitoring or reporting on the programs impacts by gender and diversity. Given the specific nature of the TSB mandate, it does not lend itself to making these correlations.
The TSB maintains two modal databases, which do have fields for gender. The databases contain information on investigations pertaining to transportation occurrences in the rail, marine and air industries. In addition, within these databases the TSB focuses on other physical characteristics, such as: hair, skin or eye colour; experience; geographic location (rural vs. urban); height; weight; body-mass index (BMI), etc... in the collection of data for research purposes. The databases are not publicly available; however, accident investigation reports are made available via the internet.
- If no, please describe what actions are being taken to enable future monitoring or reporting of the program’s impacts by gender and diversity.
Given the specific nature of the TSB mandate, it does not lend itself to making correlations with the Gender Results Framework. As such there are no current plans to add further monitoring or reporting on GBA+.