Quick & Easy SMS TOOLS You Can Implement Right Now
Even though a full-scale SMS may not be on the cards for your flight operation right now, there are some fairly painless ways to install some low fuss, high impact safety measures.
We often hear the buzz phrase "safety culture" as being the most important part of safety management. Sure, that's true. But that relies very heavily on your staff towing the line (which you can't always count on).
Further below we give our tips for tools you can implement right now that have a high level of compliance by crew and staff (and therefore kick your SMS in to gear.) But firstly, we should understand the big picture of what a full-scale safety management system looks like.
How to score some quick SMS goals
We all know the point of having an SMS (ie. prevent incidents that have the potential to lead to accidents). Here are two SMS features that will provide the most impact for the lowest effort.
1. FRAT - Flight Risk Assessment Tool
There are loads of off-the-shelf FRAT's you can use or modify to suit your particular flight operation. Putting the FRAT in to the hands of the pilots is the main challenge. They need to be digital (and not paper) since there is a fair amount of fast math involved to compute a risk score. FlightPro 135 includes an easy, yet comprehensive and customizable FRAT solution that's worth looking at.
2. Real Time Monitoring of Crew & Aircraft
A good flight operations management software solution should be monitoring crew and aircraft in real time to make sure they are compliant for any trip they are assigned to. This provides an easy way to avoid common compliance breaches which are only there in the first place to improve safety.
THE MOSt COMMON REASON SMS' Fail
An effective SMS is one where management and employees can speak openly about their safety issues and concerns, without fear of reprimand.
One of the biggest complaints from staff regarding SMS is that it is all talk and no action.
A flight operation can have a full scale ICAO SMS framework in place, but not actually take safety seriously.
Only when a staff member can openly report an issue and be thanked and recognized for doing so (and receive a commitment to fix the issue), will an SMS be effective.