Since November 2006, ICAO has mandated that aviation service providers implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). Among multiple operators that we have worked with, there has been confusion about:
Topics: Risk Management Training
Highly functioning aviation safety management systems (SMS) always have effective data acquisition and risk management practices. This is not the case of most nascent SMS implementations.
Monitoring SMS performance and spotting safety trends are not at the forefront of most safety managers' minds as they begin their SMS implementations.
Topics: Aviation SMS Database
Unless you are new to aviation safety management systems (SMS), safety professionals recognize that the objective of aviation SMS is to:
Topics: Quality-Safety Management
A flight risk assessment tool, commonly known as FRAT, is a very important element of your SMS program.
Every flight has risks and hazards.
Using a FRAT tool helps airline SMS programs evaluate review and identify those risks. Based on this FRAT review process, safety programs can develop mitigation strategies.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
How much risk are you will you willing to accept?
This is one of the most critical questions that every aviation service provider needs to answer. The answer will influence every single risk management activity in the operator's aviation safety management system (SMS).
What is your risk appetite? Not surprisingly, our risk appetite changes based on a variety of factors that require constant monitoring, including:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Control measures are the heart of your aviation safety management system’s (SMS) risk mitigation efforts. You may call your "control measures" either:
In this article, we'll use the term "control measures," but I am sure many of you call them "risk controls." Either term is permissible; however, I'm detecting a global preference in the aviation industry for the term "risk control."
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
The Northern Hemisphere is blanketed in winter, which involves, cold, ice, many long nights and grey days.
For human fatigue that means two things:
Winter fatigue is a real, medically proven problem that affects many people.
Topics: Human Factors
In every aviation safety management system (SMS), the accountable executive is responsible for ensuring the SMS is properly implemented and performing in all areas of the organization. The intent is not for the aviation SMS to reach some ideal "plateau of safety" and then maintain the "ideal safety level." Far from it!
The purpose of the aviation SMS is to demonstrate that the organization can proactively manage safety year-after-year, audit-after-audit.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance, FAA Compliance
Since November 2006, ICAO mandated that aviation service providers implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). The objective of the aviation SMS is to:
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion, FAA Compliance
In order for an aviation safety management system (SMS) to be effective, the SMS must be monitored to provide assurance to managers and regulatory authorities that the SMS is both
An ICAO compliant SMS is structured around four main components, which are also known as the Four Pillars. The third aviation SMS component is Safety Assurance (SA).
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance, FAA Compliance
These two on-demand videos offer:
