SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

The Method of Talking About a Safety Management System

In another post about safety management systems for the layman, I discussed some of the groundwork for what an aviation safety management system (SMS) is and who uses it.

But as a good friend of mine who is a safety inspector told me – and this is true, “I don’t tell people what I do. I just tell people I’m a Civil Engineer because that’s

What Is Risk Assessment?

In November 2006, ICAO mandated that all member states implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). One objective was to provide aviation service providers with a standardized approach to managing safety.

During the aviation SMS implementation, operators must create and maintain a formal process of risk analysis and risk assessment in order to keep safety performance at an acceptable level of safety (ALoS).

Why Overdue Items Safety Chart Is Important

No aviation safety program is perfect.

Safety issues, corrective and preventive actions will inevitably “fall through the cracks” and become overdue while being managed. Problems arise when safety issues and other safety items fall critically behind. This exposes an organization to:

• Negative feedback on aviation safety audits;
• Potential litigation; and

Recognizing Good Aviation Risk Management Training Is Crucial

Having good aviation risk management training is perhaps one of the most important ways to improve safety in your organization.

Good training is not inexpensive, as it takes you and/or your employees away from regular duties. In other words, management doesn't want to waste time and money on items that have no direct and immediate relation to the bottom line. They expect to see results from their investment.

Manage Safety Is Managing Risk

Ultimately, managing safety is about managing risk – a core value that can easily be overshadowed in large aviation safety management systems' (SMS) implementations.

In many ways, smaller organizations have a natural benefit for managing risk simply because:

• The scale is smaller;
• There are fewer variables to account for;
• Regulatory scrutiny is not as severe; and
• There is a tighter-knit community, therefore influencing safety cultures becomes easier.

What Is Reactive Risk Management

Reactive risk management usually gets a bad rap. It’s often perceived as the “lowest” form of risk management, and those aviation service providers should be moving from reactive risk management towards more “advanced” forms to manage risk.

Assessing Your Aviation SMS Implementation

The things that often hurt aviation safety management systems (SMS) are less symptomatic of the bureaucratic side of formal SMS implementations than they are the type of working environment that management teams cultivate.

Accountable executives, with the assistance of aviation safety managers may create solid policies, but if they don’t take the secondary steps to adequately integrate the relationships between-

Why KPIs Are Different in Aviation Safety Management Systems?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) in aviation safety management systems (SMS) are different from KPIs from most other industries. The differences both benefit and hurt safety management teams' ability to choose the right KPIs for their organization.

The important differences between aviation SMS KPIs and other industries are that:

What Is Improvement for Your Aviation SMS Implementation?

Improving your aviation safety management system's (SMS) effectiveness doesn’t always have to be a long-term effort. Just as with any complex initiative, there will always be low-hanging fruit in your SMS implementation that can add considerable value without requiring extravagant expenses or investments in time.

SMS implementation and continuous improvement activities require long-term strategies. Nonetheless, there are simple ways you can quickly and easily improve the core aspects of your aviation SMS implementation in a very short amount of time.

Why Small Operators Need Safety Management Systems

Aviation safety management systems (SMS) are not just for large airlines and airports with high traffic volumes.

Small aviation service providers are in just as much need of implementing formal aviation SMS as are larger operations. All operators use the same SMS implementation guidelines as larger operators; however, they are not evaluated equally, as larger operators logically fall under higher regulator scrutiny than smaller operators, as the volume of their business implies greater risk.