SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Safety Survey Benefits Run Deep

Surveys seem a bit old-fashioned. That’s probably because they are.

Surveys have been around and popular for years. There are many uses for safety surveys besides getting the opinions of the workforce. Surveys are also useful for

• Promoting the aviation safety management system (SMS);
• Teaching employees about processes or procedures;
• Confirming management's suspicions about employee behaviors.

Reporting Safety Hazards Is Not Enough?

For most aviation service providers, the simple act of getting employees to report potential safety hazards is a constant challenge.

Expectations of the majority of employees are:

• Showing up to work (on time in some cultures);
• Collecting the paycheck (on-time is preferable); and
• Expecting employers to provide a safe workplace.

Three Ways to Encourage Participation in Your Aviation SMS

Many aviation service providers struggle with overcoming the difficulty of increasing participation and buy-in for their aviation safety management system (SMS). However, increasing participation in SMS doesn’t have to be difficult. After all, it is not rocket science.

Employees in your organization will be much more likely to participate if you design your SMS to be:

• Inclusive – make sure all employees understand their role in the SMS;

The Money Hungry Industry of Aviation

From what I have gathered over the years, every company seems to operate in the same way, money before safety.

Companies will think to themselves “How can I make money while still being safe?”

The problem with this mindset is that the word money comes first. If it were switched to say “How can I be the safest while still making money?” there wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Today’s safety culture in aviation depends on whether money is going to be made, which is quite sad.

Aviation SMS Training Does Not Have to Break the Bank

In Phase 2 and Phase 4 of an ICAO compliant aviation safety management system (SMS), aviation service providers must

• Deliver training relevant to reactive risk management processes; and
• Develop training relevant to operational safety assurance.

SMS training requirements have both initial and recurrent components.

Common Question before Aviation SMS Implementations

I interact with safety managers and accountable executives as we provide consulting and database services for aviation service providers implementing formal aviation safety management systems (SMS).

Occasionally, I hear these groups saying, "We only want the pilots to participate in the SMS."

Worse yet, I'll see an airline with 4,000 employees telling me that only "20-40 people in the company are active in the aviation SMS,"

What Defines Aviation Safety Training

Aviation safety training and education is an essential building block to develop performant safety cultures. This should be among the first elements to scrutinize whenever employees are involved in safety accidents or incidents.

Safety training and education falls under the Safety Promotion component in the 4 Pillars of Aviation SMS. Safety training can make or break the successful performance of an SMS program for:

Safety Culture More than Policies and Procedures

In some places within the aviation industry, people believe that “safety culture” looks like a lot of rules and regulations. It looks like “the man” or a bunch of nerdy pencil pushers.

I don’t believe that’s what our safety culture does or should look like. I believe safety cultures in the aviation industry can look like so much more.

• It should look more like a community.
• It should look like a team.
• It should look like a family.

A Reporting Culture Is a Just Culture

Workers’ participation in aviation safety management systems (SMS) comes down to one word: reporting.

When workers are reporting, it demonstrates three things:

• That they trust the SMS that is in place
• Cultivation of just culture in the workplace
• That the aviation safety officer is doing his job well

But as we are well aware, creating a hazard reporting culture has several powerful enemies, namely

How Money Can Affect the Way We Think about Safety

I find myself being an unsafe pilot all of the time, and so do many other pilots. Not in the sense of breaking safety regulations, such as flight and duty times, but by pushing personal limits.

Sometimes we pilots slander the IMSAFE checklist and push it to the side when preparing for a flight knowing:

• we did not sleep well the night before,
• have not eaten very nutritiously lately, and
• have been in class far too long to be in a plane for multiple hours.