Essentially the focus of SMS is not in fact compliance it is on Managing Risk and the Purpose of an SMS Audit is to consider Risk
Safety management goes far beyond traditional compliance led approaches to auditing.
The SMS approach was developed following the identification of shortfalls in the actual process of auditing – you can only identify a discrepancy during a Quality Audit when you have evidence.
So a Safety Management System “Audit” aims to identify potential safety risks and Hazards.
At the heart of any effective Safety Management System is a formal Risk Management process that identifies hazards and assesses and mitigates risk.
The next step is to mitigate or manage any risks identified to an acceptable or tolerable level. An essential aspect being the management of risk generated by Contract or Sub Contracted organization particularly where this may directly impact the organization.
Let’s do some Myth Busting!
a) SMS is just an extension of the Quality System?
Answer – Its not ! – Safety Auditing Is very different in fact Safety Auditing is almost holistic in that it is looking at the potential exposures, faced by the Organisational system.
b) SMS is owned by the SAFETY Manager?
Answer – Its not ! – The SMS System is owned by the Accountable Manager but each Post Holder is responsible for the effective delivery of the SMS within their business area. Sometimes called a Top Down Approach.
c) An SMS can be “installed within a short period of time”?
Answer – It can not ! It is going to take more than a year and near 18 months to 2 years to bed in your SMS system.
Here are some SMS Realities to Consider
1/ One size definitely does not fit all, it should be scaleable and appropriate for the organization.
2/ SMS is a proactive and integrated approach to Safety. It should be integrated into the management system the organization.
3/ To be effective it has to describe and to educate the entire workforce as to the structure, and scope of the organization, available resources, staff accountabilities, authorities and responsibilities.
4/ A real challenge facing any organization is how to set and monitor the Safety performance of the organization. Essentially this is a process which is data driven so one measure of the effectiveness of the SMS is how it gathers data.
Note – This is especially true in the operations environment.
Key Elements of an effective SMS
The SMS should comprise of the following four key components:
(a) Safety Policy and Objectives;
(b) Safety Risk Management;
(c) Safety Assurance;
(d) Safety Promotion.
Each of the above elements is critically important and all must be visible and active within the SMS System.
Key Personnel in an effective SMS
Whist the individual business owners are responsible for safety management an SMS champion is essential for the health of the SMS system.(This person may be the Safety Manager or he may be the Quality manager or another person, the important point is to ensure effective management of the entire process).
Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and our online training partner www.sofemaonline.com offer multiple SMS Training Courses
For full details of the available Sofema Aviation Services Training Courses please see the following https://sassofia.com/aviation-safety-and-safety-management-system-sms/
Please email office@sassofia.com for additional details or to register for individual or group training.
Tags:
aviation safety, Operations Environment, Risk manegement, Safety
