What's in aN SMS and what are some EASY TOOLS you CAN IMPLEMENT
RIGHT NOW?
An aviation Safety Management System (SMS) is a comprehensive set of policies, procedures, and processes that are put in place to ensure the safety of operations. Overall, an SMS is designed to promote a proactive approach to safety management, identify potential risks and hazards, and implement appropriate measures to prevent accidents and incidents.
It includes various elements such as:
How to score some quick SMS goals
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 primary SMS components with little fuss or 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 fair amount of fast math involved to compute a risk score. FlightPro 135 includes a 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.
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 a commitment to fix the issue), will an SMS be effective.