53.—(1) It shall be a duty of a F78[railway organisation] to carry out an investigation into a reportable F79[accident] F80[or incident] in order to establish the cause of such incident and to assess what, if any, action can be taken by the F78[railway organisation] to avoid F79[accident]s in the future or otherwise for the improvement of railway safety.

(2) For the purposes of carrying out an investigation under subsection (1), a F78[railway organisation] may interview any member of its staff or any other person engaged by it who, in the reasonable view of the undertaking, may be able to assist the undertaking in its investigations.

(3) A person who is being interviewed under subsection (2) may, if he or she requests, be accompanied—

(a) where the person is a member of the staff of the F78[railway organisation], by one other member of the staff,

(b) where the person is a member of the staff of another person engaged by the undertaking, by one other member of that staff,

(c) by one person from an organisation which represents, as the case may be, the staff of the undertaking or the person engaged by the undertaking, or

(d) at his or her own expense, by a legal or other adviser.

(4) A member of staff of a F78[railway organisation] or any other person engaged by a F78[railway organisation] shall, where requested by the F78[railway organisation] to do so, provide all reasonable assistance and in particular any relevant information that may be known to him or her, to enable the F78[railway organisation] to establish the cause or causes of the F79[accident] F80[or incident].

(5) If a member of staff of, or other person engaged by, a F78[railway organisation] objects to a question asked of him or her in accordance with subsection (4) on the grounds that the answer might tend to incriminate the person or make the person liable to a penalty and the person is informed of his or her obligation to answer the question, the person shall not refuse to answer the question but the answer given on that occasion shall not be admissible as evidence in criminal or other proceedings against the person other than proceedings against him or her in respect of the falsity of the answer or the failure to answer the question.

(6) A F78[railway organisation] shall in an expeditious manner carry out an investigation under subsection (1) and shall, as soon as practicable but in any event not later than 6 months after the date of the incident, prepare a report on its findings.

(7) Where the F78[railway organisation] is of the opinion that the report cannot be completed within the period specified in subsection (6), the F78[railway organisation] shall notify the Commission together with its reasons for reaching such opinion and shall provide an indication of the revised period for the completion of the report.

(8) The Commission may, where it deems it appropriate to do so, by notice in writing to a F78[railway organisation], request an interim report on an investigation under subsection (1) and a F78[railway organisation] shall provide such interim report within such period as may be specified in the notice.

(9) A report prepared under this section shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may, from time to time, be specified by the Commission but shall, in the case of a report under subsection (6), at minimum include full particulars of the incident, the cause or causes of same in so far as can be established and, where appropriate, recommendations to be adopted by the F78[railway organisation] to prevent the occurrence of incidents or otherwise for the improvement of railway safety.

(10) A report prepared under subsection (6), together with any relevant records gathered in the course of the investigation, shall be retained by a F78[railway organisation] for a period of at least 5 years from the date of completion of the report and the report shall, unless otherwise notified in writing by the Commission in any particular case or any particular types of investigations, be provided to the Commission within 14 days of its completion.

(11) Where a F79[accident] F80[or incident] is investigated under this section and the incident involves more than one F78[railway organisation], each relevant undertaking shall co-operate in the provision of information and in the conduct of the respective investigations.

(12) Where, during the course of an investigation under this section or after the completion of such investigation, the F78[railway organisation] responsible for the investigation considers that the cause or likely cause of the incident may have—

(a) implications for railway safety in general, or

(b) in a particular case may have implications for the safe operation of another F78[railway organisation],

the F78[railway organisation] shall, at the earliest possible time, notify the Commission and, where appropriate, such other relevant F78[railway organisation] of such cause or likely cause of the incident and any recommendations which may be adopted arising from the investigation.

(13) Where the Commission receives a notification under subsection (12), it may take such action in relation to the dissemination of the information contained in the notification as it considers appropriate in the interests of railway safety.

(14) Where the Commission considers it appropriate to do so, it may designate an inspector or other suitably qualified person to observe the carrying out of an investigation under this section and the F78[railway organisation] shall facilitate such observation.

(15) The function of an inspector or other person designated under subsection (14) shall be to assess the adequacy of the investigation and to ensure that the procedures adopted are in compliance with the F81[safety management document] of the F78[railway organisation].

(16) Where an inspector or other person designated under subsection (14) considers an investigation under this section not to be adequate, or not to be in compliance with the procedures adopted in the F81[safety management document] of a F78[railway organisation], he or she shall, either during the investigation or after the completion of the investigation, notify the F78[railway organisation] in writing of his or her considerations and the F78[railway organisation] shall take all necessary actions to address the considerations.

(17) A F78[railway organisation] which fails to comply with a requirement of this section is guilty of an offence and is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €3,000, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €60,000.

(18) A member of staff of, or other person engaged by, a F78[railway organisation] who fails to comply with a requirement of subsection (4) or (5) is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €3,000.