SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

The SMS Auditors Are Coming!

Aviation SMS audits are necessary to ensure aviation service providers comply with established guidelines. These established guidelines may come from:

• Clients;
• FAA;
• Transport Canada;

Reactive and Proactive Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

Aviation safety managers are tasked to ensure that the safety risks encountered at their operations are controlled to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).

Modern aviation safety risk management includes:

What Is a Gap Analysis Used For

Both new and experienced aviation safety professionals sometimes have to ask themselves, what is a gap analysis, and why am I using it?

The first thing anyone needs to understand about a gap analysis is that it is a process used by both new aviation safety management systems (SMS) and maturing SMS. This process is used by aviation service providers to determine:

What Is Risk Assessment in SMS

Risk Assessments in aviation safety management systems (SMS) are how you qualify, quantify, and rank risk exposure for:

• Reported safety issues;
• Audit findings and concerns; and
• Risk scenarios (consequences) associated with identified hazards.

Risk assessments are absolutely central to decision-making in SMS, as all actions performed on the safety issue depend on the initial and subsequent risk assessments.

Importance Monitoring Root Causes in Aviation SMS

Monitoring the performance of aviation safety management systems (SMS) is a common activity for safety managers and upper management alike. Furthermore, in every SMS, the accountable executive is responsible for directing actions to correct substandard safety performance whenever it is detected.

How is substandard safety performance detected in your organization?

How does management know which operational areas require additional risk mitigation measures?

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.

Definition of Safety Culture in Aviation Risk Management

Safety culture in aviation safety management systems (SMS) is usually defined as being the safety attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and values of employees in an organization. Unfortunately, such a high-level, conceptual definition of safety culture does not help safety manager address core personnel challenges in your organization's SMS.

In much of the SMS guidance material pushed out by regulatory agencies and standards-setting bodies, such as ICAO's document 9859 Safety Management Manual,

Understanding Safety Terms Remains Important

We write every day about topics relating to aviation safety management systems (SMS), yet we have always taken for granted that you know what is aviation safety?

Deep down, most of us have an idea about safety. We can logically expand a safety definition to encompass the aviation industry. Yet this takes work to consider the broad implications. I've taken a few moments to discuss what is aviation safety since I've never defined it in the past.

Why You Need to Know the Difference Between Hazards, Risks, and Controls

Aviation management personnel and employees who truly understand the differences between hazards, risks, and different types of controls are more effective at preventing accidents and reducing costs related to preventable accidents and incidents.

Furthermore, hazards and risks are most commonly misunderstood by safety managers who need to either create or review their company's hazard and risk registers.

Can you easily tell another employee the difference between a hazard and a risk?

What Are Components of Risk Matrix

During the issue management life-cycle, safety managers commonly conduct initial and residual risk assessments on reported issues. In most cases, the risk is a combination of both:

• Probability (frequency), and
• Severity (consequences).