Safety Management Systems

Introduction Although aviation is among the safest modes of transportation in the world today, accidents still happen. In order to further reduce accidents and improve safety proactive approaches must be adopted by the aviation community. The aviation industry has recognized that effective safety management systems are necessary in today's complex operating environments.

Safety Management System programs are a new trend in Civil Aviation, and are currently a requirement for airports, air navigation providers and air operators all over the world. Recently, some countries like Australia, Canada, members of the European Union, and New Zealand have been committed to the implementation of Safety Management Systems in aviation organizations to reduce the accident rate … It's just now emerging in the United States, and is nonexistent in most other countries.

Safety management systems past and present  Previously it has a negatively orientated, reactive approach which relied on accidents and incidents.  It contains no implementation processes but is a set of standards like ISO  Considered a legal document so that if operators are cited for not meeting the rules, they can be prosecuted for fraud.  Now it has moved to a systems approach. Risk assessment and management concepts have now been adopted. Operational Safety has teamed up with Quality Assurance and unleashed the power of data and process to address systems errors.

What is a Safety Management system ? ...a businesslike approach to safety. It is a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process for managing safety risks. The application of special technical and managerial skills in a systematic, forward looking manner to identify and control hazards throughout the life cycle of a project, program, or activity of an organization.  According to ICAO "An SMS is an organized approach to managing safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures."

SMS of a Company  It is woven into the fabric of an organization.  An SMS gives you a predictable series of processes that give you a predictable level of output. The SMS must do the following things:  Identifies safety hazards.  Ensures the implementation of remedial action necessary to maintain agreed safety performance.  Provides continuous monitoring and regular assessment of the safety performance.  Seeks continuous improvement in the overall performance of the safety management system.

SMS is good business  SMS represents the best way to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of airlines.  SMS = > Less Accidents = > Less Loss

=> More Prof

 SMS enhances the company’s business plan.  When an

SMS

program is put into place, line

management becomes the principle actor in safety achievement, and that’s where safety efforts are most effective.  The safety case is the business case.

Components of SMS All SMSes are composed of four components. •Written policies, procedures, and guidelines: You write down what you want to do - how you want to operate - and then you operate that way.

•Data collection and analysis: By analyzing these data, you can determine the risk to some extent.

•Risk management: With data in hand, you can define your risks and set policy and procedures to mitigate them.

6.Establishment of a safety culture - where people do the right thing even when they aren't being watched.

Benefits of SMS The introduction of SMS has already brought many benefits, not only in terms of safety but it has given greater clarity to air transport organisations and resulted in enhanced operational efficiency. Airlines are recognizing that the great benefits of SMS are at risk of being rejected or delayed by the confusion and frustration arising from the contrasts between the many abstract descriptions of SMS and practical implementation.

Challenges of SMS SMS implementation is very much a leadership challenge.

But SMS implementation is proving to be a tougher road than expected. A lack of proper reporting and release of data may be the single greatest obstacle to implementation of SMS. The key to effective SMS is a generative safety culture employing a voluntary employee reporting system which analyzes data and shares information.

 The process of unlocking the value in the data and turning it into useful information is largely achieved by having the right tools and the expertise.  A key part of the implementation of an SMS is the process of analyzing the organization’s system to see which SMS components are already in place and which must be added or improved to meet defined SMS standards. This is commonly known as a Gap Analysis.

Scope of Research Safety is a performance expectation.SMS must have targets and metrics against which performance can be measured. The Roadmap calls for greater integration of safety management systems not only within the airline and service provider enterprises but interface points must be defined between industry focus areas. These challenges provide a greater scope to do some useful work in this area.

References  To provide guidance on SMS implementation IATA has issued two documents, the first of these in 2005 entitled: Safety Management Systems, the Senior Airline Manager's Implementation Guide. The second guide was released in 2007 and entitled Integrated Airline Management System for air Transport Operations. Safety Management Systems Article Prepared by: David Mawdsley, Aviation Safety Advisor to Superstructure Group

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