SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

What Are Key Performance Indicators

Key performance indicators in aviation SMS measure the core safety concerns of your organization. They help you evaluate your success at reaching important safety targets.

KPIs are NOT used to evaluate:

• Overall safety performance of the entire SMS
  • KPIs are for only the most important areas of performance;
• All aspects of organizational effectiveness
  • KPIs are concerned only with the effectiveness of safety objectives

What Is a KPI in Aviation SMS

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), also called SPIs (Safety Performance Indicators), are data metrics that indicate the baseline performance of your SMS for managing safety. The term Key Performance Indicators is indicative of the scope of KPIs:

• “Key” means that KPIs assess only the most critical areas of your SMS, namely a data representation of Safety Objectives;

Monitor KPIs in Existing Aviation SMS

Setting up and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) in existing aviation safety management systems (SMS) can be a daunting task. This especially applies to first-time safety managers or safety managers new to a company who are taking over an existing aviation SMS.

Such safety managers have many questions like:

• Where do I get started?
• What is a key performance indicator?
• How much work will KPIs require?