SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Questions on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Aviation

Aviation safety professionals frequently email our subject-matter experts (SMEs) for opinions regarding aviation safety management systems (SMS) and advice as to managing key performance indicators (KPIs). Goal setting relating to key performance indicators is also another very common thread we are asked about.

In the case that follows, I was asked:

"If I were to join the one KPI on Quality & Safety for a CEO in the Aviation business, what would you recommend me to suggest?

Aviation Safety Managers Start With Something

When artists paint on a blank canvas, it allows them to start with nothing and creatively turn it into something. This allows the artist to create a picture without having to change or modify a picture that already exists.

When implementing a Safety Management System (SMS), most Safety Managers do not have the luxury of starting with a blank canvas; instead, they must overlay the SMS on what could be a very challenging organizational culture, thereby creating

What Is Proactive Hazard Management

I have a friend across the globe who is having trouble getting his head around proactive hazard identification and the resulting risk management processes in his aviation safety management system (SMS). This friend naturally prompted this blog article to explain an approach to proactively managing hazards and documenting hazard identification and risk analysis activities.

Proactive hazard management from a high level is looking at your operations and identifying hazards that may affect operations.

How Money Can Affect the Way We Think About Safety

I find myself being an unsafe pilot all of the time, and so do many other pilots. Not in the sense of breaking safety regulations, such as flight and duty times, but by pushing personal limits.

Sometimes we pilots slander the IMSAFE checklist and push it to the side when preparing for a flight knowing:

• we did not sleep well the night before,
• have not eaten very nutritiously lately, and
• have been in class far too long to be in a plane for multiple hours.

What Is a Risk Control in Aviation SMS Programs

Risk controls in aviation safety management systems (SMS) are a company’s shield against danger and the best chance for aviation service providers to conduct operations successfully.

Danger can be many things in an operational environment, but generally, danger falls into one of the following categories:

What Is a Risk Control in Aviation SMS?

Hazard identification and risk management are two major activities of formal, aviation safety management systems (SMS). Once the hazard is identified, the safety concern is reported to management for treatment via the SMS risk management processes. SMS risk management processes evaluate:

• Affected system(s);
• Anticipated organizational risk from a risk analysis;

Org Charts Help to Define Accountabilities in Aviation SMS

Safety accountabilities in aviation safety management systems (SMS) implementations outline the bureaucratic structure of organizational safety expectations. Defining accountabilities has the ultimate goal of clearly communicating:

• What levels of responsibility are defined in the aviation SMS;
• Different levels of responsibility for each role; and
• Which roles have the authority to make certain safety decisions?

The Concept of Management Commitment in Aviation SMS Programs

Management’s commitment to aviation safety management systems (SMS) is an extremely important part of the Four Pillar’s Safety Policy component.

Without a doubt, your SMS will fail without support from senior management.

Successful aviation SMS have exceptional safety cultures that rely significantly upon strong management commitment.

What Is Proactive Risk Management?

I see many misnomers about what proactive risk management is when talking in the context of an aviation safety management system (SMS).

Often one sees the proactive risk management concept clumped together with risk management in general as if they are one and the same. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What Are Main Activities of Proactive Risk Management?

Like aviation safety culture, proactive risk management is another part of aviation safety management systems (SMS) that a surprising number of people fail to truly understand. This creates missed opportunities and unfulfilled expectations that many aviation service providers can ill afford.

Setting the stage for proactive risk management in an aviation SMS is like painting a house. Safety teams

1. plan and set safety goals;
2. train employees on hazard identification;