Author – Steven Bentley
Steve’s role is currently Director of Standards – EASA Regulatory Compliance at Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com – A regulatory and vocational training organisation.
More than 10,000 delegates have completed SAS Training courses since launching in March 2008.
So to consider the challenge of auditing SMS!
As a performance system the standard prescriptive techniques are only a partial solution.
So what can we do with Prescriptive Processes?
We can audit the following elements for compliance:
1. Document control;
2. SMS regulatory requirements;
3. Scope and integration of the safety management system;
4. Safety policy;
5. Safety objectives;
6. Safety accountabilities and key personnel;
7. Safety reporting and remedial actions;
8. Hazard identification and risk assessment;
9. Safety performance monitoring and measurement;
10. Safety-related investigations and remedial actions;
11. Safety training and communication;
12. Continuous improvement and SMS audit;
13. SMS records management;
14. Management of change; and
15. Emergency/ contingency response plan.
In respect of items 1 to 15 we can validate a documented procedure to ensure it is happening and we can ensure visibility of the activity we can ensure visibility of all defined elements. including training and competence management systems, but we are not measuring how successfully it is working.
However, for some this is the end of the audit when it should in fact be the start of the audit.
Lets call this housekeeping, because it is essential to complete the routine tasks before moving on to particular “performance” elements.
Looking at Performance !
So consider the following as typical Performance Questions:
Take as an example item 8.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your organisational process to assess Hazard identification and risk assessment?
Where is the analysis performed and how are you ensuring the competence of risk assessors? Against what organisational standard are they being assessed?
Do all areas of your business adequately report on Hazard identification and risk assessment? Does it meet your expectations and how are you measuring the effectiveness of this process?
So what is the key ?
The key to a successful performance audit is to understand that every element, every task and every activity has a “measure” and it is the responsibility of the organisation to develop these “measures” we could in fact call them “Performance Indicators” or key performance indicators.
By using such measures we are able to manage and measure our progress as we develop ways to improve and optimise our organisational processes and systems.
Sofema Aviation Services offers more than 250 Regulatory Compliant & Vocational training courses please see www.sassofia.com or email office@sassofia.com
