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-
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
I interact with safety managers and accountable executives as we provide consulting and database services for aviation service providers implementing formal aviation safety management systems (SMS).
Occasionally, I hear these groups saying, "We only want the pilots to participate in the SMS."
Worse yet, I'll see an airline with 4,000 employees telling me that only "20-40 people in the company are active in the aviation SMS,"
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
Leading indicators in aviation safety management systems (SMS) are:
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Aviation safety managers must monitor risk controls for effectiveness as they are associated with many hazards encountered in daily operations. There is an expectation of regulatory agencies that aviation service providers' implemented safety management systems (SMS) will:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
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:
Topics: Key Performance Indicators
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.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
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.
Topics: Aviation SMS Implementation
Aviation safety training and education an essential building block to develop performant safety cultures. This should be among the first elements to scrutinize whenever employees are involved in safety accidents or incidents.
Safety training and education falls under the Safety Promotion component in the 4 Pillars of Aviation SMS. Safety training can make or break the successful performance of an SMS program for:
In some places within the aviation industry, people believe that “safety culture” looks like a lot of rules and regulations. It looks like “the man” or a bunch of nerdy pencil pushers.
I don’t believe that’s what our safety culture does or should look like. I believe safety cultures in the aviation industry can look like so much more.
Topics: 4-Safety Promotion
Healthy aviation safety culture results in safety performance.
Other than the bureaucratic elements of SMS, you could even make an argument that safety culture is safety performance. In aviation safety management systems (SMS), safety performance monitoring and measurement are required.
How do you measure safety culture performance?
How do you determine safety culture performance is improving?
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
These two on-demand videos offer:
