SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Aviation SMS Require Regular Safety Communications

Routine work may dull your alertness.

Careless or inattentive attitudes may soon replace the caution that existed when your job was new and interesting.

Without some periodic reawakening to the ever-present hazards in the aviation environment, lethargy deepens, and chances of accidents occurring increase without us even being aware of the risk.

You may not always recognize the importance of recurring safety training. Yet, this training benefits us all in many ways.

Risk Attitude Is the Informal 13^th Human Factor

When analyzing the types of actions and behavior to address during implementing an aviation safety management system (SMS), you have to consider the risk management attitudes of:

• individuals,
• groups (e.g., departments),
• managers, and
• the organization as a whole.

Safety Promotion Places Safety into Our Conscious Zone

An aviation safety management system (SMS) can encompass many different elements but has one overarching goal: improve aviation safety.

The best way to achieve that goal depends on what kind of SMS you participate in. Not all SMS implementations are equal. Some operators merely want to check the box. Others may have a distrustful attitude toward management. Consequently, the type of SMS implementation, as well as the "potential" effectiveness of the SMS will be dependent on:

Building on Basic Human Factors Training

Lack of preparedness is a serious concern for aviation safety.

Uninformed actions can quickly result in devastating safety and financial consequences.

Considering human action accounts for approximately 90% of incidents, preparedness in aviation safety is a matter of preparing humans how to identify and understand their own actions.

Why Managers Struggle with Safety Promotion

Safety Promotion is definitely the least appreciated of the 4 Pillars of SMS.

Almost without fail, promoting safety takes the “back seat” in most aviation safety programs because civil aviation authorities and auditors are significantly more interested in seeing that you comply with:

• Safety Policy,
• Safety Risk Management, and
• Safety Assurance.

Transparency Is a Hot Topic

Many of the major news headlines in the last few years have circled issues of transparency. From major corporations to our government, practices of secrecy always come back to bite management in their tender spots.

Aviation organizations that practice transparency tend to send a message of "non-corruption". These forward-thinking operators realize how corporate culture kills aviation safety culture.

Safety Culture Bridges Gap between Promotion and Outcomes

A recent post about four pillars of safety in aviation discussed in part the end goal of aviation safety management systems (SMS). This aviation safety blog post drew a couple of interesting comments regarding the relationship between

• safety values,
• outcomes, and
• interventions.

See Your Aviation Safety Promotion Timeline

Aviation safety promotion is all about creating interest and mindfulness about safety behavior. And repeating without end...

More broadly, safety promotion is a method of shifting stakeholders' focus of their aviation safety management system (SMS) resources and processes towards a safety mindset. To this end, aviation safety newsletters are among the most powerful safety promotional tools for:

• championing hazard awareness;
• reducing resistance to change;

Elements of Healthy Safety Cultures in Aviation

Aviation is known as a safe industry; we have statistics showing that it’s safer to fly than it is to drive a car. But what makes it so safe? Should industry really be focused so heavily on safety management systems (SMS) when we enjoy such high levels of safety?

Elevated levels of aviation safety performance certainly didn’t happen by chance, but by careful planning and the creation of a culture of safety. There are certain elements that aviation service providers consider to attribute to safe operations. These elements make up a healthy safety culture.

The Creative: Interesting Surveys and Promotion

Unfortunately, safety culture surveys are often not high on the priority list of aviation safety management system (SMS) implementations. And judging by surveys that I have seen, they are often written with the candor and creativity of a Driver’s Education Manual.

Which is too bad...

Because fun, creative, regular, and *short* safety surveys can be a truly fantastic addition to a safety manager’s bag of tricks.