'Anytime we see a reduction in the number of accidents or incidents… it's always welcome,' says TSB data insights lead
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its final statistical summary for 2024, revealing a year-over-year decline in reported transportation occurrences across the air, marine, pipeline, and rail sectors. While the downward trend in accident numbers appears encouraging, the agency stresses the need to interpret the data in context—particularly considering persistent risks to transportation workers.
In total, the TSB recorded 3,222 transportation occurrences—comprising both accidents and incidents—in 2024. Of these, 1,303 were accidents, representing a 3% drop from 2023 and a 14% decrease from the 10-year average of 1,507. However, TSB team lead of data insights Ari Rosberg cautions against drawing broad conclusions without examining individual sectors.
“Anytime we see a reduction in the number of accidents or incidents… it’s always welcome,” says Rosberg. “But I think it’s important to look at each of the four modes of transport individually… because even though the number of occurrences may be down, it may be an increase in accident rate when it's taken against the amount of activity in a year.”
Sector-by-sector breakdown
Air: In aviation, the TSB received 1,010 reports—slightly fewer than the 1,020 logged in 2023. However, the number of accidents rose from 181 to 193, resulting in 46 fatalities. Rosberg highlights long-term improvements in aviation safety, noting, “if you look back in our older publications, you’ll see that that accident rate has generally been decreasing for a couple of decades.”
Marine: The marine sector reported 951 occurrences, a 7% decline from the previous year. Of these, 213 were accidents that led to 12 fatalities—10 of which involved commercial fishing operations. “Fishing vessel safety is… a key issue on our watch list,” Rosberg says, confirming the issue is set to remain a priority in the TSB’s upcoming 2025 Watchlist update.
Pipeline: Pipeline transportation saw only 63 occurrences—62 incidents and a single accident—down from 68 in both 2022 and 2023. No serious injuries or fatalities were reported. Notably, only 13 incidents involved a product release, the lowest number ever recorded.
Rail: The TSB documented 1,198 rail occurrences, including 896 accidents. While this marked a decline from 918 in 2023, fatalities rose to 69—most of them linked to trespassing (56) and level crossing incidents (12). Rosberg pointed out the importance of isolating data related to employees. “Employee/passenger accidents… that’s pretty close to what you’re looking for, which is employees injured,” he said. “That would include marshaling trains in yards, loading and unloading.”
Although the TSB combines employee and passenger data in its public tables, Rosberg notes passenger injuries are rare, meaning most of those counted in this category are workers. “You’re saying five or 10 people seriously injured a year, one or two or four or five killed a year in the workplace… that’s not insignificant.”
A broader message for safety leaders
Rosberg emphasized that while the TSB’s mandate centers on transportation safety, the insights gained from occurrence investigations often hold direct implications for occupational health.
“Injury or fatality is one too many,” he states. “We like to think that the work we do at the Transportation Safety Board is about learning the lessons from what has happened so it can be applied to prevent transportation occurrences in the future—and that would include injury to employees.”
For health and safety professionals in transportation-related sectors—particularly in rail yards, air operations, marine fishing, and pipeline management—the TSB’s 2024 report serves as both a benchmark of progress and a reminder of the work still required to ensure worker safety remains front and center.
