Safety Risk Management receives by far the most attention of any aspect of aviation safety management systems (SMS). It is, as you might say, “where the action is,” in terms of managing risk and the most focused-upon element in an aviation SMS.
Despite the fact that other aspects of aviation risk management processes provide equally valuable assistance in developing an aviation SMS, SRM deals most directly with risk exposure.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Risk matrices are probably the inter-industry safety standard as the primary tool used in risk evaluation. In aviation safety management systems (SMS) they are ubiquitous.
Risk matrices are simplistic charts (though not necessarily “simple”) that use “probability” and “severity” to quantify the risk priority of a real or hypothetical safety scenario. The quantification is generally broken into 3 categories:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
The primary objective of risk mitigation strategies in aviation SMS programs is usually detailed as being a plan to implement risk controls that reduce the likelihood/severity of each identified specific risk. However, this risk mitigation plan is limited in that it does not address the mitigation of hazard occurrence.
Despite the fact that oversight agencies generally stress risk mitigation as being accident centric, aviation SMS programs should include hazard-mitigation and risk-mitigation strategies.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
The phrase “aviation risk management” gives the impression of being a single, solid idea – something to attain for – but in actual practice, it is a cyclical process.
Simply put, risk management is about identifying and placing controls (i.e., strengthening) weak points in an aviation safety management system (SMS).
The understanding that risk management is cyclical is an important fact because, while the phrase "risk management" has a strong flavor of top-down management styles,
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Operation risk is a primary concern of airline safety management systems (SMS). Just as in traditional safety programs, modern SMS implementations will revolve around identifying hazards and controlling these safety events.
In a formal aviation SMS implementation, there are two inter-connected components:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Aviation safety managers and employees who understand the real difference between reactive, predictive, and proactive risk management activities gain considerable benefit for generating good safety performance.
The fact is that these three types of risk management strategies are often misunderstood and/or confused.
Can you describe the difference?
Each type of strategy has particular activities and behaviors that are useful in different situations.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
We run across this time and time again in aviation risk management programs: safety management teams confuse hazards and risks, and consequently also confuse risks and consequences.
To be frank, misunderstanding the difference between these three things can have far-reaching repercussions on your ability to practice risk management in your aviation safety management system (SMS).
These repercussions happen when safety management teams either:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
We write every day about topics relating to aviation safety management systems (SMS), yet we have always taken for granted that you know what is aviation safety?
Deep down, most of us have an idea about safety. We can logically expand a safety definition to encompass the aviation industry. Yet this takes work to consider the broad implications. I've taken a few moments to discuss what is aviation safety since I've never defined it in the past.
I'm hoping to share a few insights and I am also hoping that other industry experts will expand upon this often-overlooked definition.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Aviation management personnel and employees who truly understand the differences between hazards, risks, and different types of controls are more effective at preventing accidents and reducing costs related to preventable accidents and incidents.
Furthermore, hazards and risks are most commonly misunderstood by safety managers who need to either create or review their company's hazard and risk registers.
Can you easily tell another employee the difference between a hazard and a risk?
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Before making risk assessments, there are several important questions to ask about the issue in question. These questions are extremely significant, as they affect how you will rank the issue and how you will respond to it.
You will commonly perform risk assessments on reported safety issues, such as
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
These two on-demand videos offer:
