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. So, when we talk about risk mitigation, we include hazard mitigation in this conversation.
That being said, let’s clear up some important risk management terms and see how they apply to real-world situations:
In the following strategies, “risk” is usually used in the sense of “a specific risk,” such as an accident, mishap, etc. Specific risk is associated with risk analysis and mitigation, whereas risk in general is associated with risk assessment.
Here are the 5 risk mitigation strategies in aviation SMS programs.
The risk avoidance strategy is probably the second most common in aviation SMS programs. This strategy revolves around avoiding a specific risk occurrence by limiting or non-participation activities that allow the hazard or specific risk occurrence.
This is done by:
This strategy can only be done when there are multiple activities, operations, etc., that can be used to accomplish the same mission. Fortunately, most missions can be accomplished in multiple ways.
Some common scenarios of risk avoidance are:
Risk avoidance is usually a part of a decision for “go” or “no-go” at the beginning of an operation.
Risk reduction is the practice of keeping a particular action, behavior, procedure, etc., to a minimum, or adopting actions to reduce the severity. This strategy is probably the most common risk mitigation strategy in aviation SMS programs. The first purpose of this is to reduce the corresponding frequency of a particular hazard or risk occurrence.
For example:
Risk reduction can also involve adopting actions designed to reduce the severity of potential hazard/risk occurrence. To use our example from earlier:
Risk transfer is the practice of changing the responsibility of a hazard/risk by giving it to another party. The other party should be aware of and accept this change of risk ownership.
For example, a common scenario we see in real-world operations is aviation service providers transferring aircraft-engineering associated hazards and risks to the:
Risk transfer is a formal strategy in that it involves some sort of document, such as:
As such, this hazard/risk transfer is binding by law because it is contractual in nature.
Risk assumption arises after the Risk Assessment process. Risk assumption means that the risk is “assumed” or “taken on” by the airline or airport SMS program. It’s another way for an organization to say:
Such hazards and risks should be regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure that they maintain acceptability.
This strategy is akin to the phrase, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” This usually involves spreading out hazard mechanisms and other risk factors:
The idea is that by isolating specific causes of the hazard and risk occurrence and distributing those causes among multiple controls, people, locations, etc., the overall exposure of the organization is reduced. For example, some common real-world examples are:
Some guidance will list a couple of other strategies, which actually simply tend to be subsets of already mentioned risk mitigation strategies. These sub-strategies are:
An essential part of any risk mitigation strategy in aviation SMS programs is understanding how you manage safety. Take this free quiz and find out your safety management style:
Last updated in June 2024.