Awareness is a great weapon for overcoming problems in aviation safety management systems (SMS). When aviation safety managers try and implement an aviation SMS while at the same time clinging to myths:
Myths plague aviation SMS implementation – we’ve all been guilty at one time or another of clinging to false beliefs. It’s part of the learning curve.
Topics: 1-Safety Policy
Performance vs prescriptive based approaches to aviation safety management systems (SMS) is and will increasingly be a hot topic in the aviation industry for years to come.
As it should be.
Because let’s face it, “compliant safety" is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and yet prescriptive safety remains an endemic problem in the aviation industry.
Many of you reading this probably know what I’m talking about whenever you feel an SMS inspector is evaluating your organization either unjustly or too harshly in an SMS audit.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Transparency boils down to a very simple issue: information.
Specifically, control over and access to information. As I have said before, it’s a hot topic these days.
WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, Sony, the food industry – all are examples of major front-page scandals about access to information.
That aside, I think transparency in aviation safety management systems (SMS) needs to be looked at not as the "end all be all" pinnacle of an aviation SMS,
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
It’s easy to forget just how young aviation safety management systems (SMS) are as their own defined entity. Aviation SMS has truly changed the aviation landscape, but there will certainly be more change as organizations reduce resistance to the change and continue to internalize and practice the mandated SMS regulations.
Topics: Aviation SMS Implementation
We end up writing about resistance to change rather often because we see it often.
Resistance to change is a rather significant problem every aviation safety management system (SMS) implementation deals with. Judging by the large volume of users who read blog articles about this – perhaps such as yourself – our feelings and observations are spot on.
Resistance to aviation SMS is usually more common in newer, immature SMS, and the level of resistance is a strong indicator of how healthy an SMS is.
Topics: Aviation SMS Implementation
Many of the major news headlines in the last few years have circled issues of transparency. From major corporations to our government, practices of secrecy always come back to bite management in their tender spots.
Aviation organizations that practice transparency tend to send a message of "non-corruption". These forward-thinking operators realize how corporate culture kills aviation safety culture.
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
A recent post about four pillars of safety in aviation discussed in part the end goal of aviation safety management systems (SMS). This aviation safety blog post drew a couple of interesting comments regarding the relationship between
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
Human Factors in aviation SMS identify the motivating factors behind common human behaviors that pose risk.
For example, Fatigue is a common Human Factor that hinders one’s ability to make good decisions, perform common tasks, and identify hazards – all of which pose risks to a program.
Topics: 1-Safety Policy
Successful aviation safety programs are self-conscious. That is, safety management teams are extremely sensitive to potential pitfalls and work hard to avoid needless mistakes.
Of course, in the real-world practice of safety management, “needless mistakes” are seldom easy to identify ahead of time.
Avoiding needless mistakes in aviation safety management systems (SMS) requires that:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Aviation safety promotion is all about creating interest and mindfulness about safety behavior. And repeating without end...
More broadly, safety promotion is a method of shifting stakeholders' focus of their aviation safety management system (SMS) resources and processes towards a safety mindset.
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
These two on-demand videos offer:
