AVIATION  SAFETY  MANAGEMENT  SYSTEM   ESSENTIALS

10.11.23 04:00 PM Comment(s) By FlightPro 135

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.

Safety  Policy

This outlines your commitment to safety and the roles and responsibilities of all the individuals within the organization.


Risk  Management

This involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks that could pose a threat to the safety of the organization.


Safety  Assurance

This includes monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the SMS and ensuring that corrective actions are taken where necessary.


Safety  Promotion

This involves promoting a safety culture within the organization and providing training and education to employees and stakeholders.


documentation

Proper documentation is necessary for the SMS to be effective. This includes manuals, procedures and reports that outline the SMS's policies and procedures.


emergency  response

Plans and procedures should be in place to handle emergencies and incidents that may occur during operations.


communication

Effective communication between employees, management, and stakeholders is necessary to ensure the SMS is understood and implemented effectively.

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.

FlightPro 135

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