SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

How SMS Affects Companies’ Finances

While the safety benefits are often stressed far more than the financial benefits of aviation safety management systems (SMS), this is a mistake. When companies benefit financially from a safety initiative, what this means is that they benefit financially because the safety initiative is actually improving safety.

Return on investment for aviation SMS implementations is actually not as confusing to calculate as you might think. When we are talking about return on investment, we are talking about how an aviation SMS affects companies' finances.

First Thing to Prepare for Aviation SMS Audits

Audits can be extremely stressful. Especially if things haven't been going well in your aviation safety management system (SMS) in terms of performance or implementation progress.

At this point, there's only one thing that you need to do before anything else:

• Relax.

No audit is going to be perfect. There are going to be findings. Obviously, the fewer, the better.

Benefits of Integrating QMS and SMS

Historically, quality management systems (QMS) and safety management systems (SMS) have been implemented and managed as two entirely separate entities. Today this separation persists in many if not most, companies. This is an unfortunate fact because integrating QMS and SMS provides a great opportunity for organizations to:

• Improve safety performance;
• Increase aviation safety audit results;
• Reduce bureaucratic bloat; and
• Cut overhead costs, while at the same time expanding the safety budget.

Different Investigator Activities on Safety Issues

Managing safety issues in aviation SMS is largely about performing various investigatory activities in order to make good safety decisions. Investigatory activities are usually conducted by:

• Safety managers;
• Department heads;
• Subject-matter experts; and/or
• Safety committees.

What Are Responsibility, Confidentiality, and Privacy in Aviation Safety Management

In aviation safety management, responsibility, confidentiality, and privacy are the triad that affects how you handle reported safety information. Whether your organization is large or small, your leadership team needs to discuss these factors and decide how to handle them.

Your organization may decide that it doesn’t need to pay particular attention to this triad, or it may draft several pieces of formal documentation and policies about them. Either way, what is important is that as an aviation service provider:

What Are Risk Management Tools

Risk management tools in aviation SMS is simply a vague term that refers to resources that can help you manage risk. Often, the most beneficial resources tend to be simple, inexpensive, and helpful for both providing guidance and helping you organize your time.

By “simple tools” we are talking about risk management tools like:

• Checklists;
• Templates;

What Is Cybersecurity

The aviation industry relies heavily on computers for every touchpoint of aviation service, from ground to flight operations. Cybersecurity is a term that refers to the safety of such computer systems – it is also called info-security. If nefarious individuals were able to get access to some of your computer systems, they could pose a catastrophic threat to flight operations.

In general, when we talk about cybersecurity we are referring to

• Who has access to information;

What Is Proactive Risk Management

Proactive risk management is often esteemed as the “best” type of risk management. This is because proactive risk management usually matures later in SMS implementation. Also, it involves identifying and stopping issues before they occur.

Despite this, it’s important to understand that proactive risk management is not “better” than reactive or predictive risk management, it is just one necessary strategy for managing risk.

What Is a Management System

The idea of a safety management system (SMS) is something those of us in the aviation risk management industry use as if an SMS were one solid “thing.” But a safety management system is actually made up of multiple ideas, packages into a single, functioning effort for better aviation safety.

These different ideas are found in its name:

• Aviation;
• Safety;
• Management; and

Who Are You Showing Effectiveness of SMS To

Proving the effectiveness of your aviation safety management system comes in several flavors. Who are you proving the effectiveness to? You might be showing your SMS effectiveness at managing safety to:

• Auditors;
• Investors;
• Executive management; or
• Customers.