SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

What is ICAO?

The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, was founded in 1944. It's a United Nations specialized agency that establishes international standards for civil aviation.

Of the 195 recognized countries in the world today, 192 are ICAO member states. These 192 'contracting states' abide by the Chicago Convention regulations.

ICAO defines aviation Standards and Recommended Practices, also known as SARPs. Nations (member states) adopt these rules and incorporate them into their national policies.

This standardization offers us a global aviation network. This allows civil aviation to function across international borders without affecting individual member state sovereignty.

What is Predictive Risk Management?

Proactive and predictive risk management are difficult to separate. Proactive risk management identifies safety concerns before events occur. Predictive risk management aims to predict future risk based on past performance data.

Predictive risk management is a blending of reactive and proactive strategies. Safety teams can uncover potential risks by examining data and making predictions.

For predictive risk management to work, your operation needs strong operational processes. You’ll also need historical data on which to base predictions. A strong understanding of human factors will help as well.

Here, we’ll examine three methods of predictive risk management.

What Are KPIs?

KPIs, or key performance indicators, track performance in business, quality, and safety. Understanding and using KPIs is a crucial part of SMS.

SMS can track hundreds of data points, especially when using advanced SMS software. Use data tied to objectives and goals to get the most from your KPIs.

Selecting key indicators helps to focus on the outcomes. Looking at all the data can be overwhelming. Much of it will be irrelevant to measuring performance. Selecting the right indicators will save time and increase productivity.

Why Is Teamwork Important?

Teamwork is a word used often in the workplace. We’ve all heard that it’s important to work together. Why cover the same ground again?

Lack of teamwork can have serious safety consequences. In aviation, our jobs affect others. Even when we seem to be working on our own, our work ties into other parts of the operation.

Safety is part of being a good teammate and teamwork plays a key role in safety. As such, we all take on responsibility for being a good teammate and keeping each other safe.

If we work in a vacuum without regard for others, we can contribute to unsafe conditions. For the sake of our teams, it is crucial that we work together to keep everyone safe.

Or How to Create an Aviation SMS in 7 Simple Steps

You’re probably familiar with the 4 Phases of SMS implementation outlined by ICAO 9859. Here, I’ll break them down another way, into 7 steps.

For a deep dive into how to use the 4 Phases of SMS implementation, start with How to Complete Phase 1 of Aviation SMS Implementation.

If, for whatever reason, the four phases don’t resonate with you, here is another way to look at building an SMS for aviation service providers. Much like the 4 phases, these are not steps that must be taken in order.

It’s more like learning the seven steps of a line dance. Sometimes you’ll go forward, and sometimes you’ll go back.

When Should I Review Our SMS Manual?

It's very important to review SMS Manuals.

The most common audit finding is that the operator is not conducting operations as stated in their SMS manual.

Furthermore, your manual is only as useful as the information it contains. If the information is out of date, employees will lose trust in it. This undermines the safety culture you've worked to build.

Review your manual at regular intervals. Annual reviews are best practice, but some operators go as long as 3 years between reviews.

Outside of regular reviews, you should also review your manual when:

• regulations change;
• your operational processes change; or
• there is an incident

4 Tips to Sell SMS to Top Management

ICAO and civil aviation authorities require SMS for many organizations. Even so, it's important to have buy-in from top management to make your SMS effective.

Lack of top management support remains among the top reasons an aviation SMS may fail.

Here are four, common-sense tips to help you earn top management support.

What Is an SMS Implementation Plan?

As a safety manager, the implementation plan is your road-map to success, but finding guidance on how to create one is difficult at best.

The FAA doesn't provide an implementation plan for the latest Part 5 regulations, but there is an implementation plan suggested by ICAO 9859.

ICAO recommends a 5-year plan with 4 phases of implementation, but this plan may not work well for small organizations, or those with many elements already in place.

RELATED: How to Implement SMS in Small Organizations

The 4 phase plan can be pretty overwhelming at first. Remind yourself that a complete SMS implementation may take years; you're planning a long-term project. Your implementation plan is the document that guides your organization through this process.

Why Is Safety Culture So Important?

In many of today's articles about aviation safety management systems, there is something about safety culture. Why? Safety culture ties into every part of your SMS, feeding it as your SMS nurtures your safety culture in return.

It’s a symbiotic relationship, like honeybees and flowers. Each one needs the other to grow and thrive. When your safety culture thrives, your SMS is easier to build and maintain.

So, how do we feed our safety culture in our day-to-day operations?

The Importance of an Aviation SMS Manual

ICAO requires an SMS manual for many aviation organizations required to abide by their SMS mandate. It is very tempting to gloss over your manual...to get it out of the way and never look at it again.

Manuals aren't sexy, and most of the time, they're boring at best. I've read a lot of manuals that were downright painful.

So, how do you make your SMS manual a tool that supports your SMS? Here are three best practices to put your manual to work today.

RELATED: How to Create Your Aviation SMS Manual