SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

What Is Change Management

Management of change in aviation SMS is a formal process for facilitating changes in safety programs. Usually, this process is instigated when required changes are going to affect higher-level, systems in the SMS. Smaller changes are handled with corrective actions.

The basic tenants of management of change in aviation SMS are:

• Airlines, airports, and other aviation service providers establish a formal, repeatable process for change;
• All relevant stakeholders are involved in the change;

What Is Aviation Safety Policy

An aviation safety policy is a document in safety management systems that outlines the core, important safety information that underlies your SMS.

This required document should outline your organization’s;

• Safety values;
• Safety commitments; and
• Important safety resources (policies, procedures, accountabilities).

Apathy: The SMS Killer

Apathy is the bane of any aviation safety management system (SMS).

Apathy is the most insidious kind of resistance any aviation safety manager will face. It can take many forms, such as:

• Lack of budget approval
• Lack of participation
• Poor safety reporting numbers
• Lack of accident improvement

Common Dilemma About Aviation Safety Budgets

We have heard it time and again. Upper management has allocated insufficient funds for the safety department. This is a universal challenge for all aviation safety managers.

"Do more with less" seems to be a worn-out phrase that safety departments continue to hear.

How was the safety budget last year? Sufficient? Barely enough to pay for salaries? No room for training budgets or tools to improve efficiencies?

Just imagine what you could do with a bigger safety budget.

What Is Safety Culture?

Safety culture is a set of values that a company has in relation to safety and is one of the main characteristics that distinguish one company from other companies.

Some industrial sectors, such as aviation, require a level of safety culture which is higher than in other sectors.

The maturity of the safety culture sometimes depends on the type of business, but this does not mean that industrial sectors,

What Is the Iceberg of Ignorance

The Iceberg of Ignorance was first developed in 1989 by a consultant named Sidney Yoshida. The Iceberg of Ignorance is a model that addressed concerns about safety awareness in large organizations. This model contends that of all problems:

• Only 4% of problems are known to upper managers;
• Only 9% of problems are known to middle managers;
• 74% of problems are known to supervisors; and
• 100% of problems are known to staff and front-line employees.

Classify Safety Issues With Classifications

Organizing data and information is extremely important in SMS, as much of your data analysis and performance monitoring depend on such an organization. One best practice to organize your data is assigning classifications to issues.

A classification is an organization tool. Classification is a word or a short phrase that describes the safety issue in some way.

What Are Root Causes?

We generally understand a root cause as being the underlying heart of why a particular issue happens.

When aviation safety teams are reviewing, classifying, and investigating issues with root cause analysis, they are tasked with following the chain of “why” questions until they can reasonably assess why a safety issue occurred.

For example:

• why did the plane crash →

Creating a System of Organization

Even smaller aviation safety management system (SMS) are still a leviathan of

• policies and procedures,
• SMS documents,
• reported safety concerns,
• investigations;
• SMS training materials; and so on.

What Is A Hazard Reporting System

A hazard reporting system encompasses the processes and resources your employees will use to report concerns.

The implication here is that your hazard reporting system is the primary means by which you will acquire feedback from operations (acquire data) and improve your SMS.

A hazard reporting system is a core part of driving your:

• Safety Risk Management process, by providing new data with which you will update your SMS design; and