What Are Risk Statements in Aviation SMS Risk Management?

Aviation safety professionals are challenged constantly with communicating risk to stakeholders of their aviation safety management systems (SMS).

Imagine there is FOD (foreign object debris) on the runway. FOD is a hazard and there is risk associated with the hazard. For example, the risk may be a loss of life, damage to equipment, or mission delay.

Whenever hazards are identified in the risk management process, these risks must be communicated to affected stakeholders.

Risk statements allow safety professionals to effectively communicate risk to a wide audience that may possess variable experience and knowledge of aviation operations.

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I like the concept of risk statements because they allow safety managers to consider hazards' risk consequences in private, or possibly to research potential risks before drafting statements to communicate risk.

In this article, we will demonstrate the best practices for writing risk statements without considering the use of aviation risk management software.

Elements of a Well-Written Risk Statement

The MITRE organization does an exceptional job of illustrating how to write risk statements. Our affinity to MITRE's approach may be due to groupthink. We also recommend MITRE's "If... Then..." approach to clients when writing risk statements in the "Assess" stage of the aviation risk management process.

The best-written risk statements are:

• Clear and concisely written;
• Easily understandable to the target audience as well as to those with little aviation expertise;
• Focused on realistic risk scenarios; and
• Lacking in "drama queen" elaborations.

Focus on Cause and Effect When Writing Risk Statements

Currently, best practices among aviation risk management professionals state that risk statements will be centered on an uncertain event. What could really happen if the hazard manifests itself?

Elements that MITRE's "If... Then..." construction doesn't explicitly communicate are:

• Causes of the risk;
• Potential sources for the risk; or
• Contributing factors either increase or minimize risk effects.

These additional elements require considerably more thought when drafting risk statements. If you have the time and the situation warrants an exceptional risk statement possessing clarity, go the extra mile. Well-drafted risk statements strongly affect management's attitudes toward the safety department and the SMS.

While the safety team performs the risk analysis, there may be multiple "If... Then..." constructs in your risk statement. If so, list the most realistic and important risk effect with its most important cause at the top. Managers may be time-pressed and not read a long list of "If... Then..." risk statements.

Have You Read

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Take Your Time Writing the Risk Statement

Pro-tip: Take your time when writing a risk statement for your aviation SMS.

The safety issue isn't going anywhere and there may potentially be many eyeballs looking at your work. These viewers may be:

• Top management;
• Line and staff management;
• Front-line employees;
• Stakeholders (board members);
• Safety committee; and
• Regulatory authorities.

Is the pressure on now?

Again, take your time. Write clearly and succinctly because managers want to quickly understand operational risk in the shortest time possible.

Communicating Risk to Employees Using Risk Statements

Don't forget the front-line employees when considering the audience. Communicating risk to those exposed to daily risks is required. You will also improve employee engagement in your aviation SMS when you go above and beyond to communicate risk in terms that they understand.

When communicating risk to employees, your risk management processes may outline who will be communicating risk to employees. Three possible candidates include:

• Safety managers, Director of Safety, etc.;
• Operations Managers; or
• Accountable executive.

Your processes may also provide details, such as when and how. The three times I can think of when:

• As soon as the risk is identified by department heads;
• After the investigation by the safety department; and
• In the event of policy or procedure changes by the accountable executive or the respective department head.

I will leave it to you to determine how to communicate risk to employees. It will depend on your available tools and the situation. For example, a department head may use the SMS database's electronic message board to communicate risk when timeliness is a factor and management needs to track and document that all affected employees have received the message.

Other scenarios may not be so urgent. In these cases, a "Lessons Learned" document could be drafted and placed in the SMS' Lesson Learned Library. Again, if you wish to track which employees have read the Lesson Learned, that could be tracked in the SMS database. Personally, I think management would be more interested in knowing how many "Lessons Learned" were read in a year instead of knowing "which users read which lessons."

Again, how risk is communicated to employees depends on the circumstances and the confidentiality of the issue at hand.

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An Example of a Well-Written Risk Statement

An example may best illustrate how to write a risk statement for your aviation SMS. I'll use one of my favorite topics that contain considerable risk: Not training in-depth or having a backup safety manager.

Risk Statement:

If the safety manager leaves the company, then there will be:

• Loss of corporate safety management knowledge;
• Increased potential to fail aviation SMS regulatory audits; and
• Delay in delivering safety management services to stakeholders.

Potential causes may include:

• Uncooperative mid-level managers;
• Lack of top management support;
• Unrealistic demands to perform without providing adequate resources; or
• Noncompetitive compensation.

Final Words on Writing Effective Risk Statements

Well-written risk statements add credibility and value to your risk management efforts. It is important that safety managers focus on perfecting this risk management principle. This is where you, as the safety professional are:

• Telling the story;
• Communicating the risk; and
• Delineating contributing factors.

Some better aviation risk management software tools assist safety managers when drafting their risk statements. To see how risk statements fit into the SMS Pro risk management software, request a demo. You may want to watch demo videos first.

What is the best risk statement you have written? Would you please provide an example for the group?

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Last updated December 2023.