Sofema Aviation Services considers elements related to delivering cultural change in the workplace as an enabler to drive improvements.
EASA requires an active Risk Management environment however this is typically found within the Safety Management System (SMS). In fact, Safety Assurance is looking at weakness in the organisational system which raises the exposure to risk.
Whilst Safety Assurance is a forward-looking process It is not unusual to discover confusion when the discussion turns to Quality & Safety Auditing regarding the specific functions of the two different undertakings, namely a quality assurance audit and that of a safety assurance audit system.
So consider that:
Whereas Quality is essentially looking at compliance, Safety is looking at Risk.
Therefore, Safety Management Systems should focus extensively on the analysis of the data derived from the contributing elements of the various impacted areas.
The Safety Management System identifies as an essential goal, the improvement of the Safety Performance. In so doing the SMS aims to deliver an improvement in the risk exposure.
For each of the following elements consider the “DATA” which is available to you within your organisations system?
Advance Audit Questions which should form the basis of the Audit Interview/Discussions:
a) Is the process documented understood and correctly defined in accordance with regulatory requirements?
b) What would cause the procedure/process to be changed?
c) Are all relevant responsibilities associated with the process assigned?
d) Are all stakeholders impacted by the process competent for the role they perform – how is this managed and measured?
e) Are the processes adequately managed and maintained?
f) How is the effectiveness of the process measured? (Does it achieve the required and desired results?)
g) Is there training associated with the procedure? If yes how is it assessed and managed?
h) How often is the organization analysing associated data? (Is the periodicity effective?)
i) Is the organisation able to implement change based on the information being analysed?
Ongoing objectives within an effective SMS include the following:
a) The ability to demonstrate on continuous basis conformity of the SMS to the required standard (EASA plus?)
b) The need to show in details full process definition including all process elements inputs and outputs
c) A method whereby the validity of any process is identified
d) The management of the competence of any person who reviews and assesses any data
e) The development of a process to manage the definition of targets and evidence that such targets are met – Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
f) A method whereby any identified discrepancies can be formally rectified to include analysis of the root cause together with the development of appropriate responses
Further Information Regarding Forthcoming SMS Training
Safety Management Systems – Aviation Risk Management – 5 Days – Sofia, Bulgaria
The course will run from 9 am to 5 pm on February 17th until February 21st, 2020
Details may be found here or on our website www.sassofia.com. For any questions please email team@sassofia.com.
Tags:
Aviation Quality Auditing, Aviation Safety Auditing, Aviation Safety Management System, Aviation SMS, Aviation Training, Risk Management, Safety Assurance, Sofia session
