Developing a Consistent Approach to our Aviation SMS

What do we mean by developing a consistent approach?

Well, we want our approach to be system driven and not overly reliant on individuals. Means we want the outcomes to be as independent as possible from the people.

For this to happen a number of elements need to be in place:

a) Procedures

The procedures which describe the methodology employed need to be in sufficient detail to enable all the users to work with them in the same way. We are always going to have a significant degree of subjectivity in our approach to SMS but this does not preclude the development of effective procedures.

Procedures should be:

i/ Clear and unambiguous
ii/ Detailed and Specific
iii/ Available to everyone who needs them
iv/ Written in a step by step and logical way

b)  Competence of Key Personnel

Within our SMS we have a range of duties and responsibilities, when we consider the Nominated Person or Post Holder has specific responsibilities in respect of the developing of appropriate mitigations we need to have a shared level of understanding so that again we all approach the process in the same way.

We need to develop a training program which delivers this requirement consistently and repeatedly.
All groups of staff will need to receive training to fully engage with the safety management system.
As with all training programs if we want to be effective we must be able to measure the effectiveness so measurement of competence within our SMS program is a key element to success.

c) Culture and Behaviour

Across the business we need to show that we have a genuine and sincere commitment to the effectiveness and wellbeing of the SMS. Cultural attitudes are not changed easily and quickly. Remembering that SMS is most effective when it is led from the top we need to ensure that we maintain a top-down approach to showing appropriate behaviour within our SMS.

d) Willingness and ease of reporting

To ensure the most effective reporting behaviour we should pay particular attention to the willingness of employees to report “potential exposures”.

To be successful in this regard 2 elements are required:

i/ Availability and ease of completing reports
ii/ A Personal understanding of what needs to be reported
iii/ An individual obligation to the need to report

e) Effective process for Analysis and Development of appropriate mitigations, again this should be managed and demonstrated. As already mentioned the competence of personnel is pivotal and this also has to be ensured and measured to provide confidence regarding a consistent approach.

Sofema Aviation Services offers online and classroom based Safety Management System training courses for aviation organisations, airports and regulators.
For more information please email us at office@sassofia.com or online@sassofia.com