All accredited and registered bus operators have a duty to report incidents and accidents to Bus Safety Victoria (BSV), verbally and in writing.
It is important because:
- the Safety Director uses reports to determine whether someone from TSV should attend (based on the severity of the incident)
- the statistics and data gathered are used to identify trends in the reports that help shape the industry.
Other ways the information from your report can be used include quickly sending out safety alerts about issues relevant to the entire industry and identifying trends and recommending changes to bus safety legislation. This information helps us work with industry to improve safety system effectiveness and efficiency.
For reporting purposes, a bus incident is a circumstance, act or omission, including:
- A collision with any person, vehicle, infrastructure, obstruction or object
- An implosion, explosion or fire
- Any mechanical failure
- Divergence from the highway
- An accident or incident that results in a person requiring immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital.
- Where the driver of the bus is in contravention of the bus operator’s alcohol and drug management policy,
- A failure to comply with applicable legislative requirements, vehicle specifications, bus standards or codes of practice, where the circumstances, act or omission resulted in, or had the potential to result in:
- the death of any person
- serious injury to any person*
- a loss of control of the bus
- significant damage to property.
* transported to hospital by ambulance from accident scene
To report a bus incident or accident:
- notify Bus Safety Victoria as soon as possible on 1800 301 151 (24 hours/7 days)
- submit a Notification of Bus Incident form within 72 hours of becoming aware of the incident.
It is an offence under section 65 of the Bus Safety Act 2009 (Vic) for an accredited or registered bus operator to fail to notify Bus Safety Victoria of a prescribed bus incident or accident.
Operators found to have breached this requirement will be issued with an infringement notice that carries a penalty of $661 (as of 1 July 2019).
