AERO 2384 Aviation Safety & Security Systems

AERO 2384 Aviation Safety & Security Systems

Table of contents

• Abstract…………………………………………………………….3
• Introduction………………………………………………………….4
• What is a Safety Management System?……………………………6
• Critical elements of Safety Management System……………….….6
• The importance of Safety Management System. …………………..8
• Who sets the standards for SMS……………………………………10
• Conclusion………………………………………………………….11
• References…………………………………………………….……12

Abstract

Safety management is an organizational function, which ensures that all safety risks have been identified, assessed and satisfactorily mitigated. In aviation context,it sets out organizational regulation and activities aimed at promoting and improving aviation safety.Aviation safety management policy has shifted from an out dated traditional reactive basis to a modern proactive, organizational-based focus. Aircraft accidents have become statistically rare events. That does not mean, however, that there is no room for improvement. This report contains material on about sms in the aviation operation and organisations. It aims to discus, how safety management system (SMS) became to play a vital role and the critical elements within the pillars of sms. SMS employs advanced system management theory and practice to drive the occurrence rate of serious safety events down to an even lower level.

The key fundamental concepts of SMS is a systematic approach to managing safety including the necessary organisational structures, accountability, polices and procedures. Further more, the report will discus in details the what safety management system is, the critical elements, the importance, and who are the regulators and set the standards. Safety can be defined as the state in which the risk to harm to persons or damage to property is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable level through a continuing process of hazard identification and risk management. The terms hazard and risk also need to be defined. Hazard is the condition or circumstance that can lead to physical injury or damage and risk is the consequence of a hazard measured in terms of likelihood and severity.

Introduction

Safety responsibility is defined as an obligation to achieve a successful conclusion of safety related task by using necessary action, while safety accountability is defined as anobligation to answer for action by demonstrating task achievement and taking responsibility of safety performance according to the specified expectation

(SKYbrary, 2012)

It is essential for the company to understand that the OHS targets and objectives requireappropriate designation of responsibility and accountability. The designated person shouldpossess appropriate level of skill and resource that suffice the requirement of the responsibilityand accountability. The induction program should provide every new worker with adequatetraining and resources to meet the accountability level.Delegation of safety responsibility is possible as long as it is properly documented, whiledelegation of safety accountability is not possible because it defines the obligation of theresponsible person to demonstrate the satisfactory discharge of his/her safety responsibilities(SKYbrary, 2012)

Many organizations that have adopted an SMS program have realized that the program vital role is necessary for companies and add value to their operation.

The aviation organisation is an industry dependent on service that it provides and therefore aims to achieve production output, and generate return on investment to allow growth and continued operations. Regardless of the usually stated phrase “ safety is number one” in reality, like all other industry it concerned with revenue generated, the fact is no aviation organisation has ever been created to deliver safety or even prioritised safety first.

The organisation dose however to some extent concerns it’s self with safety but how effective is that concern remains to be under question mark. Until the recent fact, which concludes that the effective safety management is one of many organisational processes that allows a firm to deliver its service and generate profit. Through positive management of safety, SMS programs have become good businessoperational practice. SMS stands alongside any other core business management function.

The world has evolved to be more analytical than ever, therefore the cost of a serious aviation accident can cripple an industry and even end the very existence of the company. The need to prioritise safety has never been more vital as the consequences of an aviation safety event can be staggering.As survival becomes the natural instinct for all organisations, success depends on the intelligent allocation of resource to SMS in order for firms to remain operational.Smaller organizations may not have sufficient resources to employ a full-time safety manager. The blunder for companies in terms of safety is often assigning the duties of safety as a collateral function to mid level manager such as Chief Pilots or manager of standards.

These mistakes lead to unintentional acts, which put safety, a secondary priority and a weak safety culture. This can be realised as a clear error especially considering substantial efforts required. Solution clear and obvious requires, genuine commitment from upper level management to position both personnel and financial resources to the critical functionof safety management. The advantages of sms program, implemented correctly and with constant monitoring will enable positive and measurable results.

What is a Safety Management System?

(ICAO) defines in a little more detail, a safety management system involves a systematic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organisational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures (ICAO, 2009).

According to Professors James Reason, in his accidental causation model, states that SMS, is the prevention process in the chain of events, which lead to the actual event. Reason uses the Swiss cheese as an example. In the Swiss cheese model an organisations defense against failures are a series of barriers, represented by the slice and the holes, which represent the weakness in the barriers suggesting that the system produces failures when these holes in the slices are aligned.

Similar to the accident causation model, SMS encourages the proactive solution to the practice of safety. SMS is a systematic and continuous management process based on proactive identification of hazards and analyses of their risk. Safety management system requires knowledge of human error mechanism, meaning knowledge of what, and why human errors occur, because human errors account for 60-80% of all aviation accidents (ICAO). The process of SMS is built around four main pillars, policy, Risk management, Assurance and Promotion.

What are the critical elements?

Safety management process are in accordance with are pre organized plan. They must be applied in a consistent manner through out the firm. With its four main pillars consisting of 13 critical element places emphasis on hazard identification and risk control and mitigation, before events that affect safety occurs. The critical elements under the four main pillars include:

Policy

• Management/ responsibility
• Safety accountability
• Appointment of key safety personnel
• Coordination
• SMS documentation

Risk management

• Hazard identification
• Risk assessment and Mitigation

Safety Assurance

• Safety performance monitoring and measurement
• The management of change
• Continuous improvement of the SMS

Promotion

• Training and education
• Safety communication

Why is it important?

Safety management system is very essential within all organization in order to promote safety across a wide variety of industrial contexts. Only when the primary mechanism for safety management moved from prescriptive regulation to organisational responsibility was specific practices for organisational safety management collectively grouped together under the banner of ‘safety management systems’.

Safety management system practices forms the strategies by which an organisation could demonstrate and take all reasonably practical steps to maintain and ensure the safety and welfare of employees and others within the organization. Prior to the requirement for individual organisations to adopt a systematic approach to the management of safety, the welfare of employees, and the general public, was generally managed through adherence to prescriptive regulation as set out by government bodies. This so called ‘boots, bel.............