EASA ATM – ANS Management System Considerations

Sofema Online (SOL) www.sofemaonline.com considers the requirements to ensure compliance with  - GM1 ATM/ANS.OR.B.005 Management system (ED Decision 2020/008/R)

Definitions and Concept of a Management System

• ISO 9000 series of standards define a management system as a 'set of interrelated or interacting elements to establish policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives'.
• Another available definition of management system is the following: ‘The structure, processes and resources needed to establish an organisation's policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives.'
• Traditionally, separate management systems were developed to address issues such as safety, quality, environment, health and safety, finance, human resources, information technology and data protection. However, it is foreseen that more and more the services providers will establish integrated management systems following the harmonised set of requirements in this Regulation.

Note 1 - The Regulation does not require that the different management systems are integrated but it facilitates their integration.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Senior management should ensure that responsibilities and accountabilities are defined and communicated within the service provider and documented within the management system. In the context of this rule, ‘responsibilities’ refers to obligations that can be delegated and ‘accountabilities’ refers to obligations that cannot be delegated.
• The appointment of an accountable manager who is given the required authorities and responsibilities requires that the individual has the necessary attributes to fulfil the role.
• The accountable manager may have more than one function in the organisation.

>>  Nonetheless, the accountable manager’s role is to ensure that the management system is properly implemented and maintained through the allocation of resources and tasks.

GM2 ATM/ANS.OR.B.005 Management system (ED Decision 2017/001/R)

Relationship between the type of Service and Safety Management — Quality Management

• All service providers are required to establish and maintain a management system.
• However, only an air traffic services provider can have managerial control over functions directly affecting the safety of the flight (e.g. the ATCO to separate aircraft from each other).

>> Hence, the management system requirements in Annex III, (- Part ATM/ANS.OR) which apply to all service providers, are more broadly associated with the quality of the service rather than the safety of the service.

>>  Annex IV (Part-ATS) has specific safety management requirements for the provision of air traffic services.

• Therefore, only the air traffic services provider (that providing air traffic control, alerting service, air traffic advisory service or flight information service) is required to have a safety management system and undertake safety assessment of changes to the functional system. 

• Service providers other than the air traffic services provider can still affect the safety of the flight through functions or services they provide, but this will always be influenced by the way in which the air traffic services provider or airspace user are using those functions or services.
• Therefore, service providers other than air traffic services providers have a management system which manages the performance of service (rather than the safe use of their services for flight navigation and the control which is beyond the managerial control of the service provider).
• This performance of the service refers to properties of the service provided such as accuracy, reliability, integrity, availability, timeliness, etc.
• It is quite likely that air traffic services providers have contractual arrangements in place with other service providers, whose services they use, specifying the required performance and requiring the service provider to inform, in a timely manner, the air traffic services provider of any impact on the performance of services supplied.

Note 2 - When the service provider other than an air traffic services provider provides services or functions directly to a flight (e.g. MET) without involving air traffic services, then the safe use of those services is the responsibility of the users of those services.

Note 3 When the air traffic services provider also provides other services, it may choose to combine the necessary performance and safety management activities into an integrated management system covering all services.

General Comment Related to ISO Accreditation

• An ISO 9001 certificate, issued by an appropriately accredited organisation, addressing the quality management elements required in this Subpart should be considered a sufficient means of compliance for the service provider.
• In this case, the service provider should accept the disclosure of the documentation related to the certification to the competent authority upon the latter’s request.
• ISO 9001 Certificate(s) covers (cover) the quality management elements of the management system. Other elements required by this Regulation in reference to the management system that are not covered by the ISO 9001 certificate issued by an appropriately accredited organisation should be subject to oversight by the competent authority.

Note 4 - ATS Providers

• An ISO 9001 certificate may not give the presumption of compliance with the provisions of ATS.OR.200 ‘Safety management system’. AMC2 ATM/ANS.OR.B.005(a) Management system

 

Next Steps

Sofema Aviation Services (www.sassofia.com) offers the following course – please see the following link EASA Quality Assurance Auditing Introduction for Air Navigation Services (ANS) – 3 Days or email team@sassofia.com