Paying Big Dividends With LOSA!

Common Questions About Aviation LOSA Programs

As a professional that regularly deals with Line Operations Safety Audits (LOSA), there are two questions that I frequently hear;

Why should my airline adopt a safety program that is not mandated by our regulating authority?
We already do line audits, wouldn’t LOSA be redundant and a waste of our money and resources?

They are good questions. And here are my responses...

Aviation LOSA Programs Not Required by Regulatory Authorities

True, LOSA is not mandated by regulation in most states. However, a LOSA program is highly recommended by IATA for airlines that intend to be listed in the IOSA Registry. The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is the benchmark for global safety management in airlines. That makes a strong statement.

As far as the second question, yes, you may be conducting similar audits, but they are not using the LOSA methodology. The difference is that your audits are probably conducted to satisfy a compliance check. The checklist probably has lots of boxes to be checked off by the auditor, and there very well may be punitive measures doled out to violators. A pilot line check comes to mind. That is not LOSA.

To say that you are conducting a true LOSA audit, the following primary criteria must be met.

Your LOSA:

Must be based on the Threat and Error Management Model (TEMM)
Is not being treated as a regulatory compliance audit (box-checking)
Must be confidential and non-punitive

TEMM is the fundamental building block for LOSA. TEMM allows trained observers to observe crews in real time to collect safety data related to the handling of Threats, Errors, and Undesired States. Observer narratives and crew interviews are also collected in the process.

A representative sample of the operation is audited, typically over a 2-3 month period. Once all the data are collected, they are then analyzed and a full report is written. All of the data remain confidential and the process ensures that there is no way to identify individual crews with the observations.

There are many benefits to a LOSA program. LOSA is a proactive safety tool that can pay huge dividends.

Many of our airline clients have identified significant threats and error-handling issues in their operating environments that they were blinded to previously. And once identified, they have made management-approved, data-driven changes based strictly on the LOSA results. Many of these issues were not identified through regular compliance audit channels. These airlines have boasted that a LOSA more than pays for itself by reducing risks and improving safety in a way that a regular compliance audit simply cannot. And many airlines with a formal LOSA program are also enjoying reduced hull insurance premiums, too!