SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

What Is an Aviation Safety Manager in an SMS Program?

The aviation safety manager (SM) is the individual charged with developing, monitoring, and improving the safety management system (SMS) of the service provider.

The safety manager acts as the primary reference point for safety management issues in the organization. Safety professionals must understand risk management processes and much more.

Appointing a safety manager is a crucial step in establishing the SMS' organizational structure and planning for the aviation SMS implementation.

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.

Without data:

• Your risk management process with have nothing to manage;
• Your safety assurance process will have nothing to assure; and

What Is an Internal Aviation SMS Audit

An internal aviation safety management system (SMS) audit is a process you used 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.

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 doesn’t happen until an aviation safety management system (SMS) matures beyond Phase 2.

The primary goals of proactive management of safety are:

• Identify precursors that lead to risk;
• Identify threats before they become dangerous; and

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.

Safety programs with good audit processes have multiple processes. Each audit process will audit a different aspect of your aviation safety program, such as:

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.

The top 5 KPIs in aviation safety based on our data are KPIs related to:

1. Death;
2. Processes not followed;
3. Bird/wildlife strike;

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. For aviation service providers, a secure, easily accessible dashboard allows management to remain updated as to the performance of their aviation safety management system (SMS).

A simple risk management chart embedded within a dashboard may communicate many things, including:

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. The discussion got me thinking, and I did some further research.

More than simply understanding the practical difference between the two, it's important to understand the ideological differences between safety audits and safety inspections as well.

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.

Good hazard reporting forms provide:

• Guidance for employees when reporting issues;
• The framework for the types of data you want to gather;

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.

Each “fin” or “branch” of a fishbone diagram describes a different category of the situation, such as the categories “Human” or “Machine.” The head of the fishbone describes the risk.