SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Safety Managers Suffer Common Problem Selecting Valuable KPIs

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) measure how effectively aviation service providers are achieving key business or safety objectives. Civil aviation authorities also use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching safety targets.

When focusing on safety, there is a tendency of some safety professionals to use the term "safety performance indicator" (SPI) to differentiate pure business metrics with safety metrics. Rest assured, SPIs are subsets of KPIs.

Using Safety Key Performance Indicators in Your Aviation SMS

Most aviation safety professionals today are managing their aviation safety management systems (SMS) using automated tools. These full-featured SMS database tools allow safety managers to easily classify issues according to many criteria.

Safety managers benefit from using SMS databases because they can more easily analyze trends to bring pressing concerns to management.

An SMS database also allows other department heads to analyze data and discover trends to focus on. These are excellent opportunities to actively involve managers in the SMS, thus reducing resistance to the SMS from managerial staff and adding value to these manager's decision making processes.

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.

How Do You Set Key Performance Indicators

Most safety managers consider aligning their operation's key performance indicators with organizational objectives, such as

• "Lost Time Injuries,"
• "Employee Turnover," and
• "Seats Sold."

These KPIs are commonly

• operational,
• safety-related or
• financial.

What are the Top 5 KPIs in Aviation Safety

We recently analyzed the key performance indicators (KPIs) of hundreds of aviation service providers around the globe, and used our data to assess what the most common KPI concerns are for the aviation industry.

What are Key Performance Indicators

Key performance indicators in aviation SMS measure the core safety concerns of your organization. They help you evaluate your success at reaching important safety targets.

What Is a KPI in Aviation SMS 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), also called SPIs (Safety Performance Indicators), are data metrics that indicate the baseline performance of your SMS for managing safety. The term Key Performance Indicators are indicative of the scope of KPIs:

Monitor KPIs in Existing Aviation SMS

Setting up and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) in existing aviation safety management systems (SMS) can be a daunting task. This especially applies for first-time safety managers or safety managers new to a company who are taking over an existing aviation SMS.

Such safety managers have many questions like:

What is a Key Performance Indicator?

What is a Key Performance Indicator in Aviation SMS?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are data metrics used to track performance in aviation safety management systems (SMS). This “performance” was not intended to measure only safety, but also quality and financial performance as well.

Understanding what is a key performance indicator is an essential component of being able to identify signs of good KPIs.