Enhancing Aviation Safety: Expert Insights, Tips, and Updates from SMS-Pro

Stu Martin

Stu Martin is an accomplished aerospace safety engineer with over 25 years of experience in the aviation industry. Beginning his career on the ramp, Stu developed a hands-on understanding of aircraft operations, maintenance, and safety protocols. His journey from ground operations to engineering has equipped him with a unique perspective on aviation safety, blending practical expertise with technical rigor. Stu has contributed to numerous safety initiatives, including the development of risk assessment frameworks and incident investigation protocols, earning recognition for his commitment to enhancing operational safety. A respected voice in the field, he continues to advocate for robust safety cultures within aviation organizations worldwide.
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Recent Posts

What Good Hazard Reporting Process Look Like in Mature Aviation SMS

Posted by Stu Martin on Apr 17, 2024 6:00:00 AM

What Is the Hazard Reporting Process

Simply put, the hazard reporting process is the primary mode of data acquisition in aviation safety management systems (SMS). Being such, a poor hazard reporting process can literally break your SMS. If that sounds unrealistic, it’s not.

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Topics: Aviation SMS Database

How to Create an Aviation SMS Audit Plan

Posted by Stu Martin on Apr 10, 2024 6:30:00 AM

What Is an Internal Aviation SMS Audit

An internal aviation safety management system (SMS) audit is a process you use to verify that certain actions are taking place in your SMS.

Audits are a safety assurance activity that is most commonly used to broadly assess whether or not aviation service providers can demonstrate continuous improvement of the SMS.

That being said, you might have different auditing processes for assessing different aspects of your SMS, such as:

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Topics: 3-Safety Assurance

What Is Proactive Risk Management in Aviation SMS?

Posted by Stu Martin on Apr 3, 2024 6:15:00 AM

Understand What Is Proactive Risk Management

Proactive safety management is often upheld as the second highest form of risk management after "predictive risk management." This is because being able to demonstrate proactive risk management activities generally does not happen until an aviation safety management system (SMS) matures beyond Phase 2.

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Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management

How Often Should You Conduct Aviation SMS Audit

Posted by Stu Martin on Mar 27, 2024 2:30:00 AM

What Is an Internal Aviation SMS Audit

An internal aviation SMS audit is how you evaluate any part of your SMS.

On the one hand, you use such audits to ensure that certain actions are taking place in your SMS, such as SRM operations or continuous improvement.

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Topics: 3-Safety Assurance

Top 5 KPIs in Aviation Safety - Free KPI Resources

Posted by Stu Martin on Mar 13, 2024 5:48:00 AM

What Are the Top 5 KPIs in Aviation Safety

We recently analyzed the key performance indicators (KPIs) of hundreds of aviation service providers around the globe, and used our data to assess what the most common KPI concerns are for the aviation industry.

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Topics: Key Performance Indicators

Safety Chart: Risk Level Breakdown in Aviation SMS

Posted by Stu Martin on Mar 6, 2024 6:30:00 AM

Importance of Risk Level Breakdown in Aviation SMS

Simple safety charts often speak volumes.

A group of simple, yet related, safety charts evolves nicely into a performance monitoring dashboard.

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Topics: Risk Management Software

Real Difference Between an Aviation Safety Audit vs. Inspection

Posted by Stu Martin on Feb 21, 2024 6:00:00 AM

Interesting Discussion on Audits vs. Inspections

The other day, I had a rather interesting discussion with a couple of seasoned aviation safety managers on the topic of aviation safety audits vs inspections.

It took a while to come to a consensus about the primary differences, as well as the ideological implications of each.

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Topics: 3-Safety Assurance

Examples of Good Hazard Reporting Forms in Aviation Safety

Posted by Stu Martin on Feb 14, 2024 5:45:00 AM

How to Use Hazard Reporting Forms in SMS

You can’t really overestimate the value and usefulness of having high-quality hazard reporting forms.

Hazard reporting underpins your ability to acquire data, which is the basis of most of the continuous improvement changes you make to your aviation SMS.

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Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management

How to Use Fishbone Diagrams in Aviation SMS - Walkthrough

Posted by Stu Martin on Jan 31, 2024 5:45:00 AM

What Is a Fishbone Diagram?

Fishbone diagrams are perhaps the best risk management tool in aviation safety management systems (SMS) for gaining a comprehensive understanding of root causes of safety incidents.

A fishbone diagram derives its name from its fishlike appearance, with a head of several fins.

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Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management

Relationship Between a Hazard and Risk Occurrence in Safety Management

Posted by Stu Martin on Jan 24, 2024 6:00:00 AM

Why Definitions of Hazard and Risk Matter

One of the most ubiquitous problems in aviation risk management is the misuse of commonly used words, in particular “hazard” and “risk.” Often, these two items are either:

  • Used interchangeably; or
  • Used much too broadly.
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Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management

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