SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

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:

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".

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

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.

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.

Making It Personal

Every continuously improving safety program will fail when employees are not involved in identifying and reporting safety hazards. Getting workers to participate in their aviation safety management system (SMS) is all about making the SMS personal. People care more about things that are directly involved and matter to them.

An aviation safety manager functions as the primary bridge between an SMS implementation and the employees – he/she IS the force of “personal.”

Adequate Safety Promotion Is Scarce in Most Aviation SMS

Like safety training, safety promotion in aviation safety management systems (SMS) is wrought with rigid material that screams in so many ways, “tune me out!”

Much of the safety promotion information doled out at workplaces looks more like an IKEA how-to manual than serving as a tool to make employees cheer for,

Winter Is Coming - Move Fatigue Upward in Hazard Register

The Northern Hemisphere is blanketed in winter, which involves, cold, ice, many long nights, and grey days.

For human fatigue that means two things:

• More melatonin production
• Seasonal depression

Winter fatigue is a real, medically proven problem that affects many people.

Safety Promotion as an Aviation SMS Pillar

Since November 2006, ICAO mandated that aviation service providers implement formal aviation safety management systems (SMS). The objective of the aviation SMS is to:

• Proactively manage safety,
• Identify potential hazards,
• Determine operational risk,