Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com considers the steps necessary to deliver an effective Organisational Aviation Safety Management System (SMS)
For Any Organizational Project to be successful it must have ownership, an agreed timeline and sufficient resources to accomplish.
The Importance of Manpower Commitment
Note 1 – How does the organisation ensure there is sufficient manpower – what is the mechanism to assess – who is responsible and how does the Accountable Manager know he has this correct.
Note 2 – How does the AM ensure sufficient financial commitment to the delivery of a successful SMS – how is this represented and measured?
Note 3 – Performance Standards must be agreed, remembering that Safety is a subjective matter and we are striving to achieve As low as Reasonable Practicable for “our” organisation.
Note 4 – Training, All staff must be provided with adequate and appropriate aviation safety information and training moreover they should be competent in safety matters within the scope of the Job Role and obligations.
Ensuring Deliverables
For each of the following elements consider the core deliverables required to succeed:
a) We must ensure that we comply with all applicable legislation, meet all applicable standards and consider best practices. What mechanism is in place to acknowledge compliance with the standard? Note that as we are talking about compliance it is relevant to consider the role of the quality assurance to provide compliance assessment.
b) To ensure and enforce as a top-down objective that safety becomes a primary responsibility of all managers. How will we achieve this in practice and how does the organisation face the challenge of 2 – P.s (Production & Protection).
c) Defining & Delivering a Just Culture – to ensure people are not blamed for genuine mistakes (Errors, Slips & Lapses) and are dealt with in the correct way in the case of organisational optimising violations (particularly where the manager is a stakeholder in the event).
d) Senior Management must be seen to continually promote the safety policy to all personnel and demonstrate their commitment to it. It is important that this is real and visible – how to achieve and how to measure?
e) Safety objectives must be established, documented and education provided throughout the organisation.
f) All staff and this includes managers and employees alike, must have their accountabilities and responsibilities for the delivery of the organization‘s safety performance and the performance of our safety management system clearly identified and communicated.
g) The process for considering the risk exposure for all hazards must be effective and the operatives in receipt of appropriate training to achieve.
People engaging with the system must understand what hazards to report!
In order to eliminate or mitigate the safety risks of the consequences of hazards resulting from our operations or activities, it is necessary to engage with continuous oversight and improvement strategies.
Sofema Aviation Service www.sassofia.com and Sofema Online www.sofemaonline.com provide both classroom and online training covering all aspects of Aviation SMS.
Please see the websites or email office@sassofia.com or online@sassofia.com
Tags:
Manpower, Accountable Managers, Aviation Safety Management System, Aviation SMS, Aviation safety training
