SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

What Does It Mean To Restructure Aviation SMS Implementations

Occasionally aviation safety mangers will want to do a turn and pivot with the direction of their aviation safety management system (SMS) implementation. What this looks like is restructuring.

When safety managers decide to restructure an aviation SMS implementation, it means changing and updating the bureaucratic structure of the SMS and possibly some of the SMS' documented risk management processes.

Usually the decision to restructure is made in an effort to:

• Improve aviation safety culture;
• Improve safety performance by streamlining processes;
• Align SMS documentation to "real-life" risk management processes; and/or
• Take the safety program to the “next level.”

What Are Mandatory and Voluntary Safety Reporting Policies

Mandatory and voluntary safety reporting policies are an extremely important part of providing guidance for safety reporting in aviation safety management systems (SMS). Yet, we rarely see these policies published and communicated in aviation SMS implementations.

A mandatory and voluntary reporting policy (or policies) outline what types of safety issues employees:

• MUST report as soon as they are identified; and
• CAN report, but are not obligated to do so, as they are identified.

FAA’s Safety Risk Management (SRM) Process and Hazard Identification Element

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) SRM compliance requirement for hazard identification controls every U.S. aviation service provider required to implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). These SRM requirements indirectly affect these operators' safety culture and risk management processes whether they like it or not.

A Hot Word in Aviation SMS?

As airlines and the aviation industry, in general, continue to eclipse safety records year by year, a nagging question begins to crop up with increasing vigor:

To what end?

The thought of endless safety improvement is daunting for any aviation safety manager. And endless improvement is totally unrealistic, though it often feels like the pressure from up top is to strive for just that – an impossible goal.

New technologies will emerge in the aviation industry with increased safety potential, but will also drag along a closet of skeletons that the aviation safety management system (SMS) will have to deal with. People will always be people. And change will never cease, which leaves room for aviation SMS implementations to continually improve operational safety.

Aviation Safety Audits Are Not for Just Airlines

Aviation safety managers must be prepared for a never-ending chain of audits. This is a fact of life, whether you are working at:

• Airlines;
• Airports;
• Ground handling companies;
• Flight schools; or
• Aviation maintenance organizations.

What Are Lagging Indicators in Aviation SMS?

Lagging indicators are an extremely important element of system performance monitoring in aviation safety management systems (SMS). Safety professionals and the accountable executive should become familiar with lagging indicators as these managers are responsible for regularly reviewing organizational safety performance and detecting substandard safety performance.

Lagging indicators show the historical performance of your aviation SMS implementation. They answer 3 essential questions about safety in your risk management program:

• What safety events are happening?
• How many safety events are happening?
• Where are safety events happening?

These questions can be broken down further to ask specific questions about safety performance. Understanding historical safety performance is a prerequisite for identifying underlying causes and leading indicators in your aviation SMS implementation.

A Reporting Culture Is a Just Culture

Workers’ participation in aviation safety management systems (SMS) comes down to one word: reporting.

When workers are reporting, it demonstrates three things:

• That they trust the SMS that is in place
• Cultivation of Just Culture in the workplace
• That the aviation safety officer is doing his job well

Four Pillars of Safety Management Systems (SMS)

In 2006, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) required safety management system (SMS) implementation for most commercial aviation service providers. The list of required service providers has been expanded in recent years to include:

What Is Root Cause Analysis in Aviation SMS

If you put 10 safety managers in a room and asked them what root cause analysis was, they would have ten different answers.

Safety professionals all say that they perform root cause analysis at sometime during their risk management process. In their own minds, that’s probably true.

But root cause analysis for one safety manager would not necessarily be root cause analysis for another manager. This is because there is neither a standard and accepted definition of what root cause analysis nor a standard process of performing the root cause analysis, such as doing:

• 5-Whys Analysis;
• Fishbone Diagram Analysis; or even the
• SHELL model.

What Is Safety Performance Monitoring and Measurement

Safety performance monitoring is an essential component of aviation safety management systems (SMS). And by “essential,” performance monitoring is like your SMS implementation's immune system.

When performance monitoring is not handled well, your safety program will wither. Worse yet, your operating certificate may be in jeopardy.

Do you know what performance monitoring looks like?

SMS performance monitoring basically involves ongoing (real-time) collection of safety data metrics that indicate the health and progress of an aviation SMS implementation. It is also used to ensure that key safety goals are achieved.

Safety performance monitoring and measurement is an element of the Safety Assurance Component of the Four Pillars of SMS.