Aviation SMS - Developing Safety Performance Indicators to Reflect Safety Culture and Employee Engagement

Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com considers Safety Performance Indicators which can reflect the effectiveness of “people” engagement within the Aviation Organisations Safety Management System.

Introduction – Definition of Safety Culture:

» Safety Culture is the set of enduring values and attitudes regarding safety issues, shared by every member of every level of an organization.
» Safety Culture refers to the extent to which every individual and every group of the organization is aware of the risks and unknown hazards induced by its activities.

o   is continuously behaving so as to preserve and enhance safety;

o   is willing and able to adapt itself when facing safety issues;

o   is willing to communicate safety issues;

o   consistently evaluates safety-related behaviour. 

Who Knows about the Problems?

How can we develop a Culture of Performance Improvement?

We should recognize that it is our own employees who are usually able to understand the risks and various factors which affects their performance in their workplace.

» Clearly, this means that they are also ideally placed to engage with the process of developing & using SPI,s
» By engaging with our employees in a variety of ways, we can develop the necessary skills and competencies to grow a performance improvement culture at all levels.
» It is important to note that expectations, once raised, should be visibly met and that our employees are able to see the value off and to benefit from expending effort in support of the performance improvement objective.

Availability of SPI Information

Metrics and other information related to the chosen SPI’s needs to be clearly presented and readily available to all employees/stakeholders in the business.

» The promotion of SPI’s to be used locally by promoting integration within the decision making and progress monitoring.

Measuring Aviation SPI,s against Business Impact

Note – It is important that we choose viable SPI’s which are able to support improvement.

As an organisation, we need to build confidence in our understanding of performance drivers and the factors/issues which need to be addressed as part of our mitigation strategies.

» Can we demonstrate an evidence-based link between what we are measuring and the impact on the business in respect of (Safety Performance).
» Carefully chosen SPI’s can positively influence management focus and allocation of resources.

What techniques can we employ to identify & validate performance causes and drivers?

Perform an Analysis of the Proposed SPI’s

» Ensure Primary Focus on Critical Issues.
» Thank about what success looks like and what controls are in place to achieve success.
» Advocate for “buy-in” to support the consensus of key stakeholders.

» Causal analysis/cause-effect analysis

o   An analysis of causes or circumstances that lead to a given result: the logical connection between an event and its consequences. Breaks down the component parts and evaluates. Tells why. (Fishbone Diagram)

» Hazard / Risk Analysis

o   Identify hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification).

o   Analyze and evaluate the risk associated with that hazard (risk analysis, and risk evaluation)

» Behavioural analysis

o   Behavioural analysis includes observations of the environment in which a behaviour occurs

o   Describes factors associated with a behaviour, including what factors are present prior to (antecedents) and following (consequences) a behaviour.

Safety Culture and Employee Engagement Indicators

The following list identifies multiple SPI’s any of which may be considered suitable to meet your objectives

» Management’s provision of adequate resources
» Perception of Importance of safety issues
» Employees’ concern for safety
» Prioritization of over profit and performance
» Personal Responsibility, Commitment & Involvement in Safety
» Perception of importance of safety issues reporting system
» Encouragement to report safety issues including Voluntary & Anonymous
» Willingness to use the Reporting System & Report minor incidents
» Effectiveness of Communication of safety issues to all employees
» Employee Feedback regarding reported safety Issues
» Management behaviour with respect to unsafe operations or activities
» Awareness by management and employees of own & others workplace risk
» Attitude towards unknown hazards
» Pro-activity to prevent occurrences (Occurrences not the only input for safety improvement)
» Self-motivated searching of safety issues by employees
» Effectiveness of Communication of Work-Related Information
» Active Prevention of accidents and incidents by employees

Next Steps

Please see www.sassofia.com, www.sofemaonline.com or email team@sassofia.com