How Safety Managers Shape Safety Culture in Aviation SMS

Aviation Safety Manager's Allegiance to Company

You depend on your safety manager to monitor and improve safety in your area of operations, regardless of whether you are an:

• Airline Pilot;
• Aviation maintenance technician;
• Baggage handler; or
• Flight dispatcher.

Most employees instinctively trust safety managers to act in their best interest – to do the right thing for you. Perhaps this is a naive assumption made by employees.

Safety managers owe their allegiance first to the company. However, I still like to think safety managers are sincerely interested in the well-being of all employees and customers. Loyalty to both parties can be possible, or so I like to believe. Legally, the fiduciary responsibility to the company is the general expectation.

Related Aviation Safety Manager Articles

• What Is a Safety Manager in Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS)?
• What Makes a Good Aviation Safety Manager?
• 5 Types of Aviation Safety Managers

Lack of Safety Promotion Promotes Suspicion

Unfortunately, many safety managers do not have your best interest in mind. Far too many aviation safety managers make bad decisions for entirely wrong reasons, including:

• To cut costs;
• To lessen their workload; or
• To take care of things "outside" the SMS purview, so they don’t look bad.

Safety managers may be exposed to pressure from upper management or external factors. In these cases, management inadvertently exposes you to risk for their own sense of personal gain. These managers may be:

• Executives making company-wide decisions focusing on financial benefits;
• Department head making decisions without considering how it affects other departments; and
• Aviation safety managers making decisions about safety policy, procedures, implementation, and risk management tools.

It's not that you need to be hyper-suspicious of management's motives, but don't take their position in the company at face value. During my lifetime, I've worked at several organizations where management neglected to communicate the reasoning behind operational changes. Have you ever experienced a case like mine?

• I show up to work.
• I'm told of a change by my immediate supervisor or another employee.
• I complain that the change makes no sense.
• We vent because our jobs appear more difficult.

I may rebel and keep doing things as I've always done. Yes, I'm a rebel, but I know I'm not as stubborn as the older generation that has been doing things their way for 30 or 40 years.

In the case above, I would have been less resentful and more accepting of the change if:

I participated in the change management process; or

The change was communicated to me well in advance, such as a memo or newsletter. Safety promotion activities are more than "feel-good newsletter stories" and safety surveys.

Related Articles on Safety Promotion

• Why Transparency Promotes Safety Culture in Aviation SMS
• Effective Safety Promotion the Informal Way for Aviation SMS
• The Best Ways to Promote Safety in Your Organization (With Free Resources)

How Safety Managers Build Trust

Now is a good time to start asking questions about your safety managers' decisions and behaviors:

• What safety services are they providing me that improve safety?
• Do their decisions benefit themselves more than me?
• Are safety managers manipulated unfairly by upper management?
• Do you get the impression they are committed to doing what is necessary to improve safety?
• Do they listen to you and act on your suggestions?

We have been working with the aviation industry for nearly 15 years. We saw what safety programs were like before the forced, widespread requirement of formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). Those were the days where:

• management was not held accountable for safety performance;
• management held no false expectations that safety and business processes would continuously improve;
• employees had no protections against management for self-reporting; and
• there were no formal standards that could be applied equally and equitably across the aviation industry.

There have been rapid improvements in the sincere adoption of SMS since we started in the aviation industry. Aviation oversight agencies continue to take a much more active role in airlines, airports, and other aviation service providers. Yet we constantly hear from our clients, affiliates, and worldwide contacts regarding how much resistance is felt toward safety management personnel.

Have You Read

• How to Reduce Resistance to Aviation SMS With Difficult Employees
• Checklist to Quantify Resistance to Your Aviation SMS
• Overcoming Resistance to Change Through Transparency in Aviation SMS

Modern Perspective of Aviation Risk Management

Gone are the "good old days" when a manager could make safety decisions on a "hunch" or feeling or "experience." The new age of safety is heading towards total dependence on:

• Structured risk management processes;
• Complex data performance metrics;
• Integrated aviation safety and quality safety management systems;
• Standardized safety and quality risk management software;
• Data-based safety performance monitoring; and
• Electronic hazard detection with smart AI.

Long story short, safety managers may play a significantly less "direct" role in the new age of aviation risk management. Clearly, this doesn't sit well with many aviation safety managers, and they will do things to keep the safety program based on the person (i.e. themselves) rather than the program.

In cases where safety managers want to rely solely upon their "people skills", they only "put up" with the modern SMS because they have to. Does your aviation safety manager only support your SMS because they are forced to?

Signs You Can Trust Your Aviation Safety Manager

To be sure that you can trust your safety manager, the 5 foolproof actions and behaviors you need to watch out for are:

1. Safety manager embraces (i.e., acts upon) feedback;
2. Safety manager regularly communicates with you in person, directly (i.e. email), or via a group (i.e., newsletter);
3. Your safety manager provides transparent communications about mistakes, success, etc.;
4. They justify their decisions based on weighing risk and trust in employee performance rather than their own abilities, needs, etc.; and
5. Safety manager's behavior is consistent.

Have You Read

• How to Tell If Aviation Safety Manager Is Doing Their Job
• Career Advice for Aspiring Safety Managers
• 3 Essential Communication Techniques for Aviation Safety Managers

Final Thoughts About Trusting Safety Managers

In conclusion, safety managers should be predictable when dealing with employees. Organizational safety culture depends significantly on the interface between management and line employees. Safety managers need to appear as credible, expert resources that instill confidence in both employees and upper management, both of which rely upon the judgment and capabilities of professional safety managers.

It goes without saying that the most successful safety managers constantly follow the aviation SMS's prescribed and documented risk management processes. They should also be regular and transparent communicators and listeners. Furthermore, employees are most apt to trust safety managers who are consistent in their behavior.

It goes without saying that safety policy plays a major role in shaping safety culture, but the faces behind organizational safety policy are what people see day-to-day. The faces employees put onto your SMS are:

• Accountable executive; and
• Safety team (or in small organizations, the safety manager).

Both management and line employees have expectations from safety managers and a good safety manager displays tact and understanding when communicating with both sides. Undoubtedly, there will be conflicting interests.

How does your safety manager exhibit these qualities in everyday activities? I'd be interested in hearing your comments.

Last updated October 2024.