TS Korea Transportation Safety Authority

• The legal grounds of the Korea Aviation Voluntary Incident Reporting System (KAIRS) is the recommendation of Chapter 8 of ICAO ANNEX-13 on government-led mandatory air safety report system as a measure for ensuring aviation safety while a third party operates the aviation voluntary safety report system with a goal of identifying the risk factors not found by the aviation safety reporting system. Moreover, the 2nd traffic minister meeting during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Canada as of June 1997 reached a resolution of sharing the information collected by member states’ aviation safety report system; subsequently, all 18 members made the joint statement to introduce the system. Meanwhile, Article 61 of the Aviation Safety Act and Article 26 of its Enforcement Decree are the grounds based on which TS (its Aviation Safety Office) is operating the system as it is conducting research on traffic safety and accident prevention.

• The essence of the Aviation Voluntary Safety Reporting System is collecting and disseminating as much information on the risk factors of aviation safety as possible, and TS focuses on securing trustworthiness and independence so that any intervention from regulators or airlines can be disregarded and win the trust of airline workers in operating the system. Likewise, TS strictly limits the site and staff handling the report as per the regulations and procedures based on the relevant laws in order to maintain complete confidentiality of the personal data of the reporting worker. Moreover, all details of the report will be generalized to de-identify the reporting person and are analyzed for regular publishing on GYRO (monthly newsletter on aviation safety) and casebook for aviation workers.

• The scope of the Aviation Voluntary Safety Reporting System encompasses all incidents or abnormal situations that endanger the safety of aircraft or those with such concerns, as per the announcement of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and Article 61 of the Aviation Safety Act. Note, however, that this system aims to sever the link to an accident or an incident by identifying and notifying any situation, condition, or situation that may affect air safety; thus, TS is working on how to collect and disseminate cases that evade immediate analysis and measures.

• Fill out the printed or downloaded form and fax it to +82-54-459-7149

Log in to the website of TS or KAIRS and fill out the form. The form is based on Annex 66 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Aviation Safety Act, and it consists of "Details of report" and "Personal data."

• Personal data : Such as name and address of the reporter. This part aims to protect the identity of the reporter as it will be cut and returned to the reporter after analysis and can be used as proof of limited immunity as per the relevant laws if the reported case becomes subject to an administrative measure. In case of failure to fill out personal data, or if the entered personal data are incorrect, the report will be invalidated and destroyed immediately.
• Details of report : For the general information of the situation/incident including description, on the top and back page, excluding the "Personal data" part. The form is designed for easy preparation and analysis considering the convenience of the reporter and staff in charge of analysis. It is just one page, focusing on collecting as much data as possible needed for analysis.
• Integrated mailing envelope : The form becomes a mailing envelope by simply folding it to remove any burden of cost and ensure ease of reporting. Postage is also covered by TS. Using a different envelope because you need to copy the form to use more pages requires reporting by general mail, in which case the reporter shall pay the postage. The reporter should conduct all aspects of reporting, from filling out the form to sending by mail, to prevent leak of personal data.

• Any dangerous object or obstacle or erroneous marking that may endanger aviation safety in the airport or nearby areas
• Deviation of an aircraft during its flight from the original path, which does not harm its safety
• Using a similar call sign that may confuse air traffic controllers around the same time
• Confusion or erroneous data or procedure that may cause defective maintenance or flight
• Procedure or institution that may endanger aviation safety
• Condition or state of airport facilities or flight path that may endanger aviation safety
• Marking on an aviation information publication or the map used for flight that may endanger aviation safety
• Factors that may endanger aviation safety through human error or behavior
• Other issues determined and announced by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport

• An aviation worker filing a legitimate report within 10 days of the occurrence of a disturbance, except wilful misconduct or gross negligence, may be given immunity.
• The report system of TS does not reveal personal data to any third party without prior consent of the reporter as per the relevant law.
• In order to protect the personal data of the reporter, TS cuts the personal data part and returns it to the reporter within 10 days of filing of the report under normal circumstances and does not keep it in any way including copying or reproducing it.
• The content of the report is generalized and de-identified after analysis and dissemination to protect the identity of the reporter.