Transparency boils down to a very simple issue: information.
Specifically, control over and access to information. As I have said before, it’s a hot topic these days.
WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, Sony, the food industry – all are examples of major front page scandals about access to information.
That aside, I think transparency in aviation safety management systems (SMS) needs to be looked at not as the "end all be all" pinnacle of an aviation SMS,
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
80% of aviation service providers have troubles getting employees to participate in aviation safety management systems (SMS).
Most safety managers accept this challenge and strive to implement consistent safety promotion activities, such as
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Most safety professionals have a common-sense perception about how to monitor the safety performance of their aviation safety management system (SMS). After all, isn't safety performance monitoring just a fancy phrase for setting goals and tracking them?
Too often, aviation safety professionals are expected to perform "miracles" with their aviation SMS, but they are not provided realistic tools or training on how to achieve proper safety performance objectives.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Auditing is a management practice that is very common in most industrial domains and for a variety of different purposes.
Administrative personnel, for example, are very familiar with financial auditing.
Professionals working under a quality management system certification are familiar with quality auditing.
Lawyers and other professionals dealing with regulatory compliance undergo audits focusing on compliance.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Aviation safety managers usually have different opinions about exactly what root cause analysis is.
Root cause analysis activities for one safety manager may not align with the risk management processes practiced by another. This is because in aviation safety management systems (SMS), there is no standard definition for what root cause analysis is.
Even oversight agencies like the FAA or ICAO shy away from providing much guidance on what root cause analysis is or how to conduct it.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Historically, quality management systems and traditional safety programs have been managed separately. With the advent of modern safety management systems (SMS), there is an opportunity to develop synergies between the two systems. However, the majority of safety professionals at smaller companies remain focused on simple SMS compliance and may miss out on this unexpected boon, which has been disguised as a regulatory mandate.
Indeed, many organizations still manage their organizations' safety and quality initiatives with separate systems for quality operations and safety operations.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Aviation leading indicators are aviation safety data put to best use. They are designed to identify precursors to good/bad safety performance and uncover what goes into the program that dictates success or failure.
Successful aviation safety management systems (SMS) are primarily concerned with stopping the manifestation of hazards before they happen, which is why they depend so much on leading indicators.
Leading indicators in aviation become useful to safety programs when:
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
An aviation safety database is not simply an improvement over spreadsheets. The database completely overhauls the way you interact with safety information in an aviation safety management system (SMS). An SMS database is the proper technology to manage an aviation SMS for operators with:
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
Does your aviation SMS make money? Probably not.
Why not? Most aviation SMS failures result from operators consistently neglecting to follow the prescribed aviation SMS recipe as originally designed. Other operators treat SMS as a "check-the-box" obligation to satisfy as expeditiously as possible, thereby consciously neglecting the "presumable benefits."
Aviation service providers with more than ten employees should benefit financially from the SMS prescription whenever they have sufficient business activity to comfortably sustain operational expenses. Unfortunately, this is not reality.
Marginally profitable businesses maintain higher risk of SMS failure because they lack resources to correctly implement the prescribed SMS formula. These operators cannot afford to leave money on the table and must look at SMS as a business opportunity and not a regulatory burden.
FAA Part 5 - Safety Management Systems has a subtle, but important requirement stuck in subsection 5.25 Designation and responsibilities of required safety management personnel. There is a subsection that packs a dynamite punch that should leave most of you reeling with uncertainty.
This requirement is buried in the subsection 5.25 (c) Designation of management personnel and deals with monitoring the effectiveness of safety risk controls.
Topics: 3-Safety Assurance
These two on-demand videos offer:
