The Dutch safety council has begun an investigation into safety issues around Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the organisation said on Wednesday.

The council has investigated 10 to 12 incidents at Schiphol over the past few years and now wants to establish if there is a structural cause.

The board ‘wishes to investigate whether these incidents may be due to multiple root problems, such as the design, location and use of the airport,’ it said in a statement on Wednesday. The safety of people living close to the airport will also be looked into.

‘This is important for the current handling of air traffic as well as in the future, given the expected growth in the numbers of flights at Schiphol,’ the statement said.

A spokesman for the airport’s air traffic control team told broadcaster Nos: ‘we are constantly trying to improve the safety of air travel in the Netherlands and welcome this project.’

Several of the incidents involve aircraft taking off from runways which had not been cleared for use.