Aviation safety professionals are challenged constantly with communicating risk to stakeholders of their aviation safety management systems (SMS).
Imagine there is FOD (foreign object debris) on the runway. FOD is a hazard and there is risk associated with the hazard. For example, the risk may be a loss of life, damage to equipment, or mission delay.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Change is an inevitable and constant reality in the aviation industry. A lack of change is tantamount to a lack of growth in an economy.
Likewise, if your aviation safety management system (SMS) is not changing, it’s not improving. "Continuous improvement of the SMS" is the third element of the "Safety Assurance" pillar of ICAO-compliant SMS.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Every aviation operation endures varying levels of risk, depending on ever-changing environmental conditions.
The operating environment never remains constant.
No two operations are identical.
Certain factors will always interject uncertainty and risk into the operation, including:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Without fail, every aviation safety manager I have met has the following attributes:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Proactive and predictive risk management are difficult to separate. Proactive risk management identifies safety concerns before events occur. Predictive risk management aims to predict future risk based on past performance data.
Predictive risk management is a blending of reactive and proactive strategies. Safety teams can uncover potential risks by examining data and making predictions.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
KPIs, or key performance indicators, track performance in business, quality, and safety. Understanding and using KPIs is a crucial part of SMS.
SMS can track hundreds of data points, especially when using advanced SMS software. Use data tied to objectives and goals to get the most from your KPIs.
Topics: Key Performance Indicators, 2-Safety Risk Management
In November 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) required the implementation of an aviation safety management system (SMS) by the following aviation service provider organizations:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Aviation safety is not a new concept. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past dozen years, you will know that the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) mandated formal aviation safety management systems in November 2006.
At a minimum, these aviation safety management systems (SMS) required that the system:
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Element 2.2 of ICAO’s requirements is for you to develop and maintain a process to:
While just one requirement, ICAO provides quite a bit of guidance on what this process should look like. There are many considerations in this step, and while ICAO doesn’t explicitly say, “Do it this way,” they provide a lot of meaningful guidance on what a best practice would look like.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
Safety managers are tasked with "safety management" which can be considered "risk management." As they practice risk management activities, safety managers are expected to actively "react" to reported safety issues or audit findings.
This activity of "putting out fires" is part of the reactive risk management process that your company is probably pretty good at performing.
Topics: 2-Safety Risk Management
These two on-demand videos offer:
