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
In November 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICA0) mandated the implementation of formal aviation safety management systems (SMS) for most commercial aviation service providers. Besides the usual suspects of large airlines and airports, the list of required operators includes
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Fatigue is a top safety priority. Even moderate levels of fatigue can cause employees to demonstrate the same mental and physical capabilities as an intoxicated person.
Discussing fatigue in aviation safety management systems (SMS) becomes interesting when one considers the onus for managing fatigue is on multiple parties, namely:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
The majority of aviation service providers are required to implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS) per the November 2006 ICAO mandate. This is a requirement. SMS implementation is not optional for most operators.
Just as the SMS implementation is not optional, employees do not have the luxury of shirking their duties and responsibilities to the SMS.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
It is a common misnomer that trend analysis in risk management is used to forecast future performance. This understanding of trend analysis is both reductive and distorts the purpose of trend analysis in aviation safety management systems (SMS).
According to the FAA, the objective of aviation SMS implementations is to:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
These two on-demand videos offer:
