| (1) | An operator must investigate every railway occurrence that takes place directly or indirectly in connection with that operator’s railway operations, among other things to identify the root cause or causes thereof, within a reasonable time after that occurrence. |
| (2) | The operator must, upon request, furnish any occurrence investigation report to the Regulator. |
| (3) | The Regulator may require the operator to assess the impact of the recommendations made in the operator’s occurrence investigation report in order to effect safety improvements. |
| (4) | The Regulator may, or upon receipt of a directive from the Minister must, investigate any railway occurrence for the purposes of preventing similar occurrences in the future. |
| (5) | In exercising its functions under this section, the Regulator may— |
| (a) | in its discretion allow any person affected by or interested in the relevant investigation or the duly authorised representative of such person, to appear before it and to— |
| (i) | give evidence or make oral or written representations relevant to such investigation; |
| (ii) | call witnesses and lead evidence on any question relevant thereto; or |
| (iii) | question any person who testified as a witness in such investigation; |
| (b) | summons any person who may reasonably be able to give material information concerning such investigation to appear before it to give evidence or to produce any document or object in their possession or custody or under their control which may reasonably have a bearing thereon; |
| (c) | call upon and administer an oath to or obtain an affirmation from any person present before it, who has been or might be summoned in terms of paragraph (b) or otherwise; |
| (d) | question any person who has been called upon under paragraph (c) or require such person to produce any document or object in their possession or custody, or under their control, which may reasonably have a bearing on the investigation. |
| (6) | The summons contemplated in subsection (5)(b) must be in the prescribed form, signed by the chairperson of the board or another person authorised by the board and served in the prescribed manner. |
| (7) | The law relating to privilege as applicable to a witness summoned to give evidence or produce any document or object before a court of law will apply in respect of the questioning of any person by, or the production of any document or object before the Regulator in terms of this section. |
| (8) | The Regulator may appoint a suitably qualified person to carry out any investigation referred to in subsection (4). |
| (9) | An investigator appointed in terms of subsection (8) must furnish a written report to the Regulator upon completion of the investigation. |
| (10) | The Regulator or a person conducting the investigation into a railway occurrence may enter and inspect any infrastructure, network, rolling stock or any place, except for a dwelling, that is the object of the investigation. |
| (11) | A person in control of the scene of a railway occurrence which the subject of an investigation must— |
| (a) | allow the investigator to remove any articles or objects pointed out by the investigator or Regulator; |
| (b) | allow the inspection of the documents requested by the investigator or the Regulator, including the making of copies thereof; and |
| (c) | furnish the investigator or the Regulator with any information which is under that person’s control. |
| (12) | A person questioned by the investigator or the Regulator must answer each question to the best of his or her ability, but such person is not required to answer any question if the answer may be self-incriminating. |
[Section (38) substituted by section 17 of Act No. 69 of 2008]
