Enhancing Aviation Safety: Expert Insights, Tips, and Updates from SMS-Pro

Why Managers Struggle With Safety Promotion

Safety Promotion is definitely the least appreciated of the 4 Pillars of SMS.

Almost without fail, promoting safety takes the “back seat” in most aviation safety programs because civil aviation authorities and auditors are significantly more interested in seeing that you comply with:

Most Important Questions to Monitor Safety Performance in SMS

Monitoring safety performance in aviation safety management systems (SMS) is undoubtedly one of the most important tasks you will undertake in your SMS. Regulatory requirements turn to monitoring the performance of the SMS from a "nice-to-have program" for reducing risk and avoiding accidents

How to Use Hazard Reporting Forms

It is hard to underestimate the value that high-quality hazard reporting forms provide your aviation SMS.

Hazard reporting quite literally provides the underpinning for your risk management activities. No hazard reports...nothing for you to manage.

Most Important Items for Starting SMS Implementation

If you are reading this article, chances are that you either already have started implementing an aviation safety management system (SMS), or you are considering an SMS implementation.

Aviation SMS Implemented in Top-Down Approach

Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) are critical for ensuring safety and compliance with FAA Part 5 and ICAO Annex 19, yet even top safety managers can fail without the right approach. This article explores two primary reasons for these failures—lack of accountable executive ownership and inadequate data management tools—and offers solutions using SMS Pro, as highlighted in our safety manager guide.

What Are Safety Benefits of SMS Software

The safety benefits of SMS software are not the primary reason a company initially decides to adopt the special, built-to-purpose software. If this were true, these companies would have acquired advanced SMS database solutions long before aviation safety management systems (SMS) became a regulatory requirement.

Defining Good Safety Culture in Aviation SMS

Safety culture will be the last thing to develop in your SMS.

Once you fully implement your SMS design (Phase 3 of SMS implementation), you will need to monitor your SMS to ensure it is functioning as designed.

What Is Safety Policy in Aviation SMS

Your Safety Policy is the canon of your aviation safety program. It outlines all of the essential information anyone in your company would want to know regarding safety. It is one of the first components of your SMS that you will develop. It will be the document that you:

Oversight Agencies Need to Support Risk Management Software

Something we hear about all the time is the general lack of support from regulatory oversight agencies during inspections and audits. This lack of support that safety managers complain about regards the usage of risk management software in audits that aviation service providers use daily to manage their required safety management systems (SMS).

What Are the Safety Management System Databases?

In early 2007, when we started designing and developing SMS Pro, I was mildly surprised that many aviation safety managers called a Web application to manage aviation safety events a "safety management system" (SMS) database.