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About our Reporting Systems

Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System

The Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System provides a means for all to report hazards within our aviation industry, on the ground or in the air, whether real or perceived, before there is a loss of life, injury or damage.

What is CAHRS?

Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System is a voluntary, non-punitive, confidential reporting system established by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). It provides a channel for the voluntary reporting of aviation occurrences or hazards while protecting the reporter’s identify.

The CAHRS system does not eliminate the need for mandatory reporting of aircraft accidents and incidents to the AIID under the existing aviation regulations. Reporters are urged to report accidents and incidents to the AIID On-Call Investigator on AiidInbox@caa.co.za /+27 (0) 60 991 9915.

Contact Details

E-Mail: cahrs@caa.co.za
Tel: 011 545 1242     /     011 545 1063     /     011 545 1178

You may also use the mobile numbers or send a WhatsApp to;

Lerato Sekhukhune: 071 600 8599
Lerato Boya: 083 451 2606
Soomesh Maharaj: 083 461 6027

Who can file a CAHRS report?

Anyone who wishes to report a hazard or system deficiency voluntarily and confidentially. This includes members of the public or those involved in aviation. Reporters are encouraged to make use of their organisation’s internal SMS voluntary reporting system where applicable, unless they have no access to such a system or the hazard is deemed beyond the scope of their organisation’s purview.

What may be reported with CAHRS?

Note: the list below is not exhaustive:

  • Air proximity events
  • Aircraft cabin operations
  • Fueling operations
  • Inadequate aerodrome conditions or services
  • Cargo loading
  • Unsafe ATC operations
  • Aircraft/engines/component maintenance and repair activities
  • Unsafe training activities involving flight operations
  • Passenger handling operations related to safety
  • Insufficient qualifications or experience of employees of the aircraft operator
  • Any other matter that affects or might affect the safety of or aircraft operations not reportable under a mandatory reporting scheme please call us.
What is not a reportable safety concern?
  • matters relating to a serious and imminent threat to a person’s health or life
  • industrial relations matters
  • conduct that constitutes a criminal offence

Unlawful aviation activities. If you wish to provide information about unlawful aviation activities, you should contact the SACAA enforcement on enforcement@caa.co.za. For suspected fraud contact the SACAA Fraudline 0800 997 263

The objectives of CAHRS 
  • To prevent accidents and incidents by identifying hazards before there is a loss of life, injury or damage;
  • To prevent accidents and incidents by identifying hazards before there is a loss of life, injury or damage;
  • To improve the safety awareness of the current aviation community;
  • To enhance the basis for human factors research and recommendations for future procedures, operations, facilities and equipment.
What is confidential?

Personal information about the reporter is confidential. It is encouraged that the reporter keeps his/her identity confidential, by not copying in personnel from within or outside the reporter’s organization to the report.

Is an anonymous report via CAHRS acceptable?

Anonymous reports, i.e. without a name or phone number, will be accepted. However, less significance may be attributed to such a report, as the reporter cannot be contacted for further relevant information, which may be required for analysis.

What are the possible outcomes from a CAHRS report?
  • Safety promotion campaigns
  • Improvement of policies, standards and procedures
  • Safety information sharing
Why is it important to report hazards?

Reporting of hazards assist in identifying aviation hazards, risks and trends that might lead to potential incidents and accidents. In certain instances these are overlooked and only picked up when a loss of life and damage to property, have occurred.

How to report a hazard

CAHRS reports can be submitted by the online form.  Click here to access the form; or obtain Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System (CAHRS) forms from the SACAA offices.

Complete the forms and submit them to the SACAA Building 1 or 2 receptionist:  16 Treur Close, Waterfall Park, Bekker Street Midrand.

Electronic copies may also be submitted to cahrs@caa.co.za

What happens after your report has been submitted:
  1. Reports are registered and allocated a reference number.
  2. The CAHRS administrator acknowledges receipt via email if not anonymous.
  3. The CAHRS investigators make contact with the reporter, if necessary , for further information
  4. The report is de-identified
  5. Report referred to relevant department
  6. Some of the reports are published
  7. Summary of reports are used for analysis
  8. De-identified reports are put on file
  9. Data exchange

Tip-offs Anonymous

Fraud, crime, and theft are escalating issues in South Africa, often going undetected and unreported, leading to financial losses for companies and negatively impacting their employees. The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is no exception. We are dedicated to maintaining honest and ethical business practices to ensure a stable work environment for everyone and secure the ongoing success of SACAA. To support this commitment, SACAA has implemented a service that allows all stakeholders, especially SACAA employees, to anonymously report any dishonest behaviour among colleagues.

Fraud Hotline

Fraud, corruption, and general irregularities are growing concerns in South Africa. Often undetected and unreported, these issues result in financial losses for companies, negatively affecting employees, the public, government departments, and state-owned entities.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is not exempt from these challenges. Despite our commitment to conducting business ethically, with honesty and integrity, we depend on our stakeholders to report any wrongdoing. To facilitate this, we have subscribed to a service that allows all stakeholders to anonymously report any fraudulent activities, corrupt practices, unethical conduct, or irregularities, including those related to aviation. This service, known as the Fraud Hotline, is managed by an independent professional firm called Vuvuzela, ensuring complete anonymity for the reporter.

Examples of what can be reported:

Not limited to:

  • Crime
    • Theft
    • Fraud
    • Corruption
    • Bribery
  • Disregard of internal policies or procedures
    • Over-riding controls
    • Sharing of user ID’s or access passwords or codes
  • Disregard of Civil Aviation Regulations
  • Supply Chain Irregularities
    • A supplier offers a kickback to the employee to gain the tender
    • Employees doing business with government
    • Collusion between suppliers
  • Abuse of company property and equipment
    • Excessive use of company resources
    • Use of the company resources to run your own business
    • Abusing company tools, equipment, and chemicals
  • Misrepresentation of facts on:
    • Travel claims
    • Subsistence Allowance
    • Qualifications
    • Not returning over paid allowances
  • Highly sensitive issues
    • Sexual Harassment
    • Nepotism
    • Racism

Abuse of Power/Authority

  • Officials abusing their power and authority against operators
  • Victimisation
  • Management victimization of employees
  • Inspectors victimising operators
  • Recruitment irregularities
  • Hiring of family and friends
  • Hiring of unqualified people

Aviation Irregularities

  • Falsifying flying log books
  • Unqualified crew and maintenance persons

How do I make a report to the Fraud Hotline?

The contact details for the hotline are:

  1. FreeCall: 0800 204 911
  2. SMS: 30916
  3. E-Mail: sacaa@thehotline.co.za
  4. Website: www.thehotline.co.za/report (Use 0800 204 911 to report)
  5. Mobile application: Vuvuzela Hotline app  – download from google play store – Use 0800 204 911 to report.
  6. Mail: PO Box 10512, Centurion, 0046
  7. Fax: 0867261681

Frequently asked questions

When you call the Fraud Hotline contact centre you are not required to give your name or any personal details. Secondly, there is no caller identification so we do not know from where the call was made. Even though we record all the calls, SACAA will never have access to the recordings so no-one will be able to identify your voice. We also have Editors' on site who 'sanitise' every call, which means that they strip out any information that could lead to the identity of the caller, so your company only gets a very factual report of the alleged wrong-doing with no additional information.

Top management is committed to ensure that the Fraud Hotline is successful and part of the success is to ensure that all calls are investigated by qualified forensic investigators.3. What happens if someone does not like someone else and uses the line to spread harmful stories (malicious call)?

Yes, this is a possibility and we are very aware that this can happen. Firstly, if there is malicious intent, one does not need this hotline to spread it - you can spread a rumour in the canteen.. However, all our agents are trained to identify a malicious call and so are our duty evaluators. We filter these calls and flag them as malicious when we forward them. When these reports are read by forensic investigators  they are read in the light that they could be malicious. Also remember that a tip-off is merely an allegation of wrong doing and proper evidence and proof has to be obtained through forensic investigation, before any action can be taken.

The call centre agent will ask you question in order to obtain the necessary information for investigation. Callers usually have valuable information of which they are not aware, our call centre agent will ask you these probing questions to guide you through the reporting process.

The tracking number is your reference number that relates to the incident that you have reported. Should you wish to add more information to a report at a later stage, you can call back and quote the reference number and just give the agent the additional information. This reference number is yours alone (do not give it to someone else to follow up on your report), this is to ensure that your identity is protected.

Yes, once the investigation is completed, written feedback can be provided to the whistle-blower on request.

How to Report an Accident

Reports should be forwarded to the following:

24 HOUR CONTACTAiidInbox@caa.co.za / +27 (0) 60 991 9915

Other contacts

  • Manager: Safety Information 
    Soomesh Maharaj
    Office: +27 (0) 11 545 1178
    Mobile: +27 (0) 83 461 6027
    Email: Soomeshm@caa.co.za; or

  • Senior Manager: Accident and Incident Investigations
    Albert Phuti Morudi
    Office: +27 (0) 11 545 1054
    Mobile: +27 (0) 83 461 6295
    E-mail: morudia@caa.co.za

Notification to the Authority

The Accident and Incident Investigations Department (AIID) should be notified immediately through the information provided on the website upon occurring of an Incident occurs within the territory of the Republic of South Africa into any aircraft or in foreign territory to an aircraft registered in South Africa. All notifications should be forwarded to the Investigator on call and Manager: Accident and Incident Investigations their respective contact details are available on the CAA website 24/7 hrs. This notification could be in the form of a telephone call or e-mail. In the event of an occurrence, it is most probable that one or more of the following will notify Civil Aviation Authority and Accident Investigation Department:

Air Traffic Controller

  1. Owner/Operator
  2. Aircraft pilot/surviving crew members
  3. Handling agent/Maintenance organization
  4. Police/Local Authority
  5. Eyewitness
  6. State of Occurrence, in the event of an occurrence in foreign territory to an aircraft registered in South Africa

The legal responsibility for notification of an Incident rests first with commander of the aircraft or, if he be killed or incapacitated, then the operator and if the occurrence is in foreign territory, the State of Occurrence. If the Incident occurs on or adjacent to an aerodrome, then the aerodrome operator is also required to notify the Incident. The notification is required to be passed to the Authority by the quickest means and giving, as far as possible, the required information mentioned in the paragraph below.

Recording of Notification

The recording should be made using an Accident/Incident Recording form format as approved; the recording must contain the following information.

  1. For accidents the identifying abbreviation ACCID, for serious incidents INCID
  2. Manufacturer, model, nationality and registration marks, and serial number of the aircraft
  3. Name of owner, operator and hirer, if any, of the aircraft
  4. Qualification of the pilot-in-command, and nationality of crew and passengers
  5. Date and time (local time or UTC) of the incident
  6. Last point of departure and point of intended landing of the aircraft
  7. Position of the aircraft with reference to some easily defined geographical point and latitude and longitude
  8. Number of crew and passengers; aboard, killed and seriously injured; others, killed and seriously injured
  9. Description of the accident or serious incident and the extent of damage to the aircraft so far as is known
  10. An indication to what extent the investigation will be conducted or is proposed to be delegated by the State of Occurrence
  11. Physical characteristics of the accident or serious incident area, as well as an indication of access difficulties or special requirements to reach the site
  12. Identification of the originating authority and means to contact the investigator-in-charge and the Incident investigation authority of the State of Occurrence at any time; and
  13. Presence and description of dangerous goods on board the aircraft.
  14. And any other information no matter how pertinent has to be communicated to the investigator on call.

Form:

Click here to access form CA 12-07 – External notification of accident in relation to CAR Part 12.02.1; 12.02.2 and 12.02.3