Aviation safety managers usually have different opinions about exactly what root cause analysis is.
Root cause analysis activities for one safety manager may not align with the risk management processes practiced by another. This is because, in aviation safety management systems (SMS), there is no standard definition for what root cause analysis is.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Historically, quality management systems and traditional safety programs have been managed separately. With the advent of modern safety management systems (SMS), there is an opportunity to develop synergies between the two systems. However, the majority of safety professionals at smaller companies remain focused on simple SMS compliance and may miss out on this unexpected boon, which has been disguised as a regulatory mandate.
Indeed, many organizations still manage their organizations' safety and quality initiatives with separate systems for quality operations and safety operations.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Mark my words: before long leading indicators in aviation safety management will be ubiquitous in nearly every aviation safety management system (SMS). I say this for several compelling reasons:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Aviation leading indicators are aviation safety data put to best use. They are designed to identify precursors to good/bad safety performance and uncover what goes into the program that dictates success or failure.
Successful aviation safety management systems (SMS) are primarily concerned with stopping the manifestation of hazards before they happen, which is why they depend so much on leading indicators.
Leading indicators in aviation become useful to safety programs when:
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
An aviation safety database is not simply an improvement over spreadsheets. The database completely overhauls the way you interact with safety information in an aviation safety management system (SMS). An SMS database is a proper technology to manage an aviation SMS for operators with:
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Bowtie analysis is one of the best aviation risk management tools to communicate risk and demonstrate commitment to safety.
Although not universally shared, I've seen that about 10% of smaller operators in the 100 to 500 employee range believe that bowtie is the best way to communicate operational risk and satisfy aviation safety management system (SMS) auditors. These "bowtie adherents" are usually providing services to the oil and gas industry.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
We know that aviation safety management is a system of safety management activities.
Policies, processes, and procedures are created to systematically approach
Topics: 1-Safety Policy
Burnout is especially common in the aviation safety industry. I’ve seen it happen to young and older safety managers. I’ve seen it happen to safety managers who were early and late in their safety careers.
Burnout is not picky about whom it possesses, meaning that the burnout scope of victims naturally exceeds aviation safety professionals.
Unfortunately, safety culture surveys are often not high on the priority list of aviation safety management system (SMS) implementations. And judging by surveys that I have seen, they are often written with the candor and creativity of a Driver’s Education Manual.
Which is too bad...
Because fun, creative, regular, and *short* safety surveys can be a truly fantastic addition to a safety manager’s bag of tricks.
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
Every continuously improving safety program will fail when employees are not involved in identifying and reporting safety hazards. Getting workers to participate in their aviation safety management system (SMS) is all about making the SMS personal. People care more about things that are directly involved and matter to them.
An aviation safety manager functions as the primary bridge between an SMS implementation and the employees – he/she IS the force of “personal.”
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
These two on-demand videos offer:
