SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Purpose of Safety Performance Assessment in Safety Assurance Pillar

If you cannot measure safety performance in your aviation safety management systems (SMS), then:

• How do you know whether your operations are as safe as can be reasonably expected?
• How can your set safety goals and objectives when you don't have actionable intelligence to assist in fact-based decision-making processes?
• How do you know your aviation SMS is driving operational performance improvements?

Aviation Safety Management Systems Are Defined by Interactions

Aviation safety management systems (SMS) need certain interactions or features within the system for it to be successful.

Interactions in aviation SMS always denote a relationship between two parts. These parts can be any aspect of the SMS implementation's moving parts, such as its:

• Employees;
• Managers;
• Interfaces (internal and external departments);

Things to Prepare for Aviation SMS Audits

There are many aviation audit checklists available online.

While these checklists offer many specific tasks you need to perform, few checklists offer a broad overview of things that airports, airlines, and other aviation service providers should do to augment audit performance.

The purpose of aviation safety management systems (SMS) is to continuously improve safety performance while also improving the business' operational processes. This continuous improvement is expected to be realized by:

Why Aviation SMS Audits Are Important

The objective of Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) is to:

• Proactively manage safety to reduce risk;
• Identify potential safety hazards;
• Determine operational risk, and
• Implement control measures mitigating identified risk.

What Is Safety Assurance for FAA

Safety Assurance is designed to ensure that aviation service providers have the ability to manage safety risks effectively using a structured, prescribed approach to managing identified safety concerns.

The purpose of aviation safety management systems (SMS) is to provide operators with a "systematic approach to managing safety. Yet there are no standards that every operator must follow, as the range of aviation industry segments is vast, just as the size and complexity of the thousands of service providers around the world.

How to Conduct Root Cause Analysis

Every aviation safety management system (SMS) contains a subsystem to manage risk associated with reported safety issues and audit findings. This subsystem can be called the SMS' risk management system as this system provides the logical workflow necessary to efficiently:

• Conduct and document investigations;
• Assign and track corrective actions and preventive actions;
• Perform risk assessments; and

What REALLY Is Continuous Improvement in Aviation SMS?

The objectives of every aviation safety management system (SMS) is to:

• Proactively manage safety in a formal, structured manner;
• Identify potential operational hazards;
• Determine risk to operations and affected stakeholders; and
• Implement control measures to mitigate identified risk.

What Risk Management Decisions Are

Risk management decision making processes will dictate the success of your aviation safety management system (SMS). Period.

Every change, no matter how small, arises from a risk management decision. Decision-making processes in risk management programs are often seen as a formal, documentable process, such as those seen in the U.S. military leadership training courses.

Alternatively, risk management decision making can also be an informal, “everyday” kind of process.

Importance of Investigations in Aviation Risk Management

Investigations are the cornerstone of quality assurance efforts in aviation safety management systems (SMS). They are an attempt to answer why and how safety events occur. Investigations also commonly occur in response to reactive and proactive risk management activities after safety issues are submitted through the SMS' safety reporting system.

Different organizations use the term investigation differently depending on the context of the investigatory activity and common risk management practices within the organization.

Auditing Compels Operators to Adopt Better Aviation SMS

Aviation quality and compliance auditors use auditing software to measure compliance and to track corrective actions. IATA's IOSA program is a very good program to steer airlines toward an ICAO compliant safety management systems (SMS).

Quality, safety, and environmental management systems share many common elements and requirements. In fact, requirements for safety management systems have evolved from the quality management systems (QMS).