If there’s one takeaway for new professionals in aviation safety management, it’s that aviation risk management is a process. It is not a single, solid “thing.”
This process is cyclical and can be identified by several stages that form a systematic approach to safety risk management, including:
Other resources online will usually identify anywhere from three to five stages in the risk management process, but we have identified seven stages in order to close the feedback loop with Monitoring and Awareness.
Hazard identification in the safety risk management process requires several things:
Hazard and risk awareness are inspired in several different ways:
Hazard identification is the end product of safety awareness and should result in enhanced safety hazard reporting activities. Hazard reporting is an essential bridge between Safety Risk Management and Safety Assurance. When hazards are being reported, it's a good indication that they have been properly identified and employees are aware of them.
Hazard identification can occur in two components of the aviation SMS:
Aviation SMS' risk management processes are iterative in nature. Most existing operators have processes and workflows to deliver products and services to their clients. Documented processes provide management the assurances that the company can repeatedly deliver its products and/or services in a safe efficient manner. In an aviation SMS, these documented processes live in the SRM component. Most operators will have a hazard register that lists out operational:
Hazard registers may also contain relevant review documentation, such as
Hazard registers are commonly managed in either:
In the early years of SMS implementations, operators will commonly store their list of hazards in a spreadsheet. The problem the spreadsheet presents is that it is disconnected from the SMS risk management system. Operators that use an integrated SMS database can manage their all SMS activities within one system. A simple way of considering these integrated SMS databases to manage hazards is to think of A system of related data management systems.
Safety professionals recognize that an SMS implementation covers a wide range of activities that can be grouped under the four pillars:
All four components are essential to an effective, compliant aviation SMS. For example, employees are encouraged to monitor the "operational systems" and report potential hazards using the "safety reporting system." Both safety reporting and auditing are part of the safety assurance (SA) component.
Employees' submitted safety reports and audit findings enter the SMS "risk management system" where risk analysis is performed and affected systems' designs are reviewed. Subject matter experts and process owners review affected systems' designs in the safety risk management (SRM) component.
Before employees report safety issues, they need training on what sort of anomalies to be aware of. Employees need training and a continual reminder to remain alert for potential safety concerns. Safety training and increasing employee awareness are managed in the "safety promotion" component.
Finally, to encourage safety reporting activities, employees need some assurances and protections against management reprisals for self-reporting. Who is responsible for reporting safety issues? Who is responsible for managing the reported safety issues? These SMS elements are managed under the safety policy component.
As we can see from a very simple example, all four components are related and are important for an organization to successfully practice safety risk management processes.
An essential part of hazard identification is the risk analysis where subject matter experts and safety professionals:
Evaluation and risk assessment of safety issues involves:
Traditionally, risk assessments are performed on the risk of a hazard - i.e., the likelihood of a risk occurring, and the severity of damages from the risk.
However, many oversight agencies tend to be open to performing risk assessments on the likelihood and relative danger level of hazard expression (dangerous condition), which allows organizations to control danger at an earlier stage in the flow of safety events and mitigate danger at root causes/hazard mechanisms. In general, this is a very proactive practice, but you just need to make sure you can explain and justify any risk assessment.
Aviation service providers usually don't receive findings for the "correctness" of their actions, but rather their inability to show their processes, explain their processes, or document relevant information.
Risk controls are your aviation SMS' front line of defense against hazard occurrence and accidents. An essential part of the SRM process is developing risk controls where needed. By "where needed" we mean:
In either of the above scenarios, risk controls will need to be:
Controls are generally implemented through the management of a change process or issue management process, depending on the nature and scope of the new/updated control.
Through the safety risk management process, there is a trend toward ever-occurring continuous improvement of the operator's system and operational processes. As time passes and hazards have been mitigated, the system will naturally improve. Yet there will never become a time where the operator enjoys complete safety unless they cease operations.
The "aviation system" is an open system and the operating environment always changes. Risk will never be completely mitigated in an open system. The continual treatment of safety concerns as they arise will afford the best risk management solution that we can develop at this point of our existence. This is the reason we have required aviation SMS implementations: operators would not seek out and adopt effective risk management processes without government intervention.
Evaluating your own processes in the risk management process is vital. It’s important to pay attention to things like:
The SRM process is what you do to:
All of your risk management activities will be revolve around these concepts as you design new systems or monitor existing operational processes.
These workflows and guides for safety performance may be very useful in honing your risk management processes.
Last updated in May 2024.