SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Why Review Safety Policy & Objectives in Aviation SMS Programs?

Aviation safety managers share many common traits, including:

• detail oriented;
• hard driven;
• professional;
• self-starters (high initiative); and
• good communicators.

Safety managers are results driven.

What Is Confidentiality in Aviation SMS

Confidentiality in aviation SMS is how much personal information is included in available safety reports and concerns. When safety issues are reported, employees may or may not have access to details about the reported issue. When employees do have access, or when you release information about a reported issue, you will need to decide if employees can see information like:

Most Aviation SMS Suffer from Employee Apathy

Have you been tasked to implement your aviation safety management program (SMS) at your company?

Or perhaps you have inherited a "paper SMS"  or one that is dysfunctional?

One of the most common challenges safety managers face is to secure buy-in from all employees to support the SMS both during

• the planning and implementation phases; and
• mature safety assurance phases.

Troubleshooting the Aviation SMS Implementation

Fact: In most countries, aviation service providers must implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS).

Fact: Most aviation safety managers tasked to implement SMS programs have primary duties outside the safety program. Their day jobs may be as pilots, airfield maintenance engineers, etc.

Fact: Most safety managers are lower in the organizational chart than department heads accustomed to doing business "the way we've always done it."

Common Safety Manager Challenges in Aviation SMS Programs

Safety managers face difficult challenges when complying with the ICAO aviation safety management systems (SMS) requirements. Most airlines and airports around the world understand that they have to implement these SMS requirements.

In many parts of the world, aviation safety managers commonly lack:

• Clear guidance to implement aviation SMS;
• Earnest participation by the entire organization; and
• The adequate budget for tools to manage safety programs;

This is obviously an important issue to discuss with the accountable executive. After all, the accountable executive is responsible for the SMS implementation. Safety managers need for accountable executives to understand that the SMS is not the safety manager's SMS implementation, but the accountable executive's implementation! You may have to educate in order to effect positive change in the SMS.

Aviation Safety Policy? More than Just Empty Words...

Safety managers are commonly the invisible authors to many safety policies show-cased at aviation service providers worldwide. After all, safety managers are the "supposed" subject matter experts and the accountable executive is busy doing "accountable executive stuff."

When you are assigned to manage an aviation safety management system (SMS), one of the first tasks is to either create or review the aviation safety policy.

Where do you begin?

Safety Reporting Essential to Aviation Risk Management

Timely reporting of hazards, incidents or accidents is seen as an essential activity of aviation safety and risk management. I can safely say that without reported hazards or safety issues, there will be:

• little operational improvement and a
• needless waste of resources.

Without an effective hazard/safety reporting culture, there is no way that any aviation service provider can demonstrate continuous improvement to their aviation safety management system (SMS).

Paperwork Is More than Tedious

Let’s be real – documentation is really just a fancy word for paperwork (digital or hardcopy). It can be extremely tedious.

I’ve never met anyone who looks forward to documentation required in an aviation safety management system (SMS). That doesn’t change the fact that at every activity of an aviation SMS –

• planning,
• implementation,
• audit reports,
• SMS training records
• reported safety issues, and
• continuous improvement –

documentation does greatly impact the efficiency of the program.

SMS documentation is the script of an SMS.

When Should Perform Risk Analysis

Risk analysis is an activity that safety managers will perform on a regular basis for discovered (or potential) issues. You might identify these issues because of a hazard report or during an audit. Regardless of how you identify an issue, you will need to analyze it to understand:

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.