With an aviation safety management system (SMS), you can stay ahead of safety issues while flying and prevent risks. After all, even a minor oversight in a pre-flight check can lead to an emergency landing.
Both international standards and local regulations require SMS, so most major airports and commercial airlines around the world already have their own systems. These needs constant improvement and updating. In this guide, we’ll explain the key components of an aviation safety management system. You’ll also find out about practical tips and resources for implementing it properly in your organization.
What is an aviation safety management system?
An aviation SMS is a framework that helps aviation organizations manage risk in a thorough, systematic way. Given the potential high risks, its main purpose is to prevent accidents and incidents. This involves listing down possible hazards, such as mechanical failures, pilot errors, and terrible weather conditions. You’ll then have to take measures to control or remove those risks.
It takes a proactive, preventive approach, so that companies can continuously monitor and improve their own safety measures. In fact, SMS is now a requirement across the aviation industry by several organizations. This includes the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), along with many national regulatory authorities like the FAA in the United States, EASA in Europe, and CASA in Australia. Safety management is then part of daily operations, which is critical for the plane’s overall performance and the safety of passengers and crew.
Four components of an aviation safety management system
As defined by the ICAO, an aviation safety management system has four main components that work together:
1. Safety policy
The safety policy is the basis of the whole SMS, and it’s a practical, actionable blueprint that covers every aspect of operations.
A safety policy usually includes:
- A clear, direct statement from executive management confirming their dedication to safety
- The resources–financial, human, and technological, that the organization will allocate towards safety initiatives, such as advanced safety equipment and staff training
- Measurable safety objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), like a decrease in incident rates
- Roles and responsibilities of everyone in the organization when it comes to safety
Of course, the safety policy should also be aligned with all the relevant regulations and standards.
2. Risk management
Since the stakes can be incredibly high in aviation, risk management is the second pillar of a SMS. First, you’ll need to recognize potential risks, usually through doing inspections and audits, encouraging staff to report hazards, and reviewing past incidents. You’ll then have to assess the risks based on how likely they are to happen and how severe the consequences would be. A handy tool for this would be a risk assessment matrix, where you can sort risks into low, medium, or high-priority.
Finally, you’ll come up with control measures to handle the hazards. This might mean removing a defective piece of equipment, switching to more reliable technology, or updating procedures. The process doesn’t end here too–once the change is implemented, you’ll still have to monitor and reassess how effective it is as an ongoing practice.
3. Safety assurance
This brings us to the next component–safety assurance, which is all about making sure that the SMS is actually working and safety objectives are being met. This involves a feedback loop, where you’ll constantly collect data to keep improving your SMS.
Your organization should have processes for regularly measuring the performance of safety strategies. You might conduct audits and safety reviews for this and track KPIs like incident rates and maintenance errors. If any weaknesses are found, you can then make informed decisions about how to correct it. With safety assurance, you go beyond compliance and actually address risks and problems before they escalate.
4. Safety promotion
The components above cover rules and processes, but the people in your organization are also a major part of upholding a SMS. Safety promotion focuses on building a strong safety culture in your organization. After all, even with the right systems, it’s still ultimately up to the people in the organization to fully prioritize safety.
There should be comprehensive training and awareness programs for all employees about safety risks and their roles in managing those–from the ground crew to the executive team. These training should be tailored to each employee’s specific job, while still covering hazard identification, risk management, and emergency and safety policies. On top of this, organizations should also encourage open communication about safety issues. Ideally, employees would be able to submit safety reports conveniently if they notice anything is amiss.
Best practices for implementing an aviation safety management system
When designing and implementing an aviation SMS, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
- Do regular safety audits. These audits should be both internal and external–internal so you can self-assess your organization’s practices, external to get an unbiased perspective and identify risks that might have been overlooked. Depending on regulations, conduct external audits every year, while internal audits should be done more frequently.
- Set up a clear hazard reporting system. Employees should be able to report safety concerns comfortably, with a quick, user-friendly process–whether through an app, email, online forms, or over the phone. Anonymous reporting should be an option. Make sure to review reports and take action on them quickly.
- Use checklists for safety procedures. Human error is a very real risk, both during routine and high-pressure operations. Checklists are the most practical, easy-to-use tool for reducing the risk. You can set up checklists for pre-flight inspections and landings, as well as maintenance and crew coordination.
- Have an emergency response plan. This covers clear protocols for different types of incidents, including technical failures and medical emergencies, with tasks listed down per role and how communication will happen. There should also be drills and exercises for seeing how the plan would work in actual conditions.
- Be data-driven. By analyzing data from incidents, near-misses, and regular operations, you can pinpoint where your SMS needs improvement. For example, if you have a robust incident and near-miss reporting system, you can go through the data here while examining the details too around the event, including contributing factors.
How to use a flight safety checklist
Using checklists is an essential practice for flight safety. In fact, you can use it to standardize flight safety measures before, during and after flying. Flight schools and aircraft fleets use checklists for identifying problems or potential risks and correcting them promptly.
A checklist also serves as a guide for student pilots and flight instructors to ensure that there are always pre-flight checks. As a starting framework, we’ve curated several aircraft safety checklist templates, including for Boeing 737 and Cessna 172.
Why are checklists important in aviation?
Investigations by international air traffic control authorities revealed that the leading cause of life-threatening air traffic accidents is the flight crew’s failure to perform the pre-takeoff flight checklist. This underscores the importance of using a checklist to ensure that pre-flight checks are regularly performed. It is the best means of preventing aircraft crashes and other aviation accidents.
Even student pilots are trained to properly assess flight conditions prior to the departure of a using a detailed checklist. A checklist can be used throughout the flight to ensure that the pilot and crew are prepared for any problems that may arise. If just one item is omitted from the pre-flight, takeoff and landing checklists due to carelessness, it can have life-threatening consequences.
Types of flight safety checklists
In professional flying, the use of checklists is a matter of course. In private aviation, they are often considered unnecessary or a nuisance. The assumption is that the pilot must memorize all checklist items. Of course, it is good if they’ve mastered the contents of all checks. But in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and in the tense situation before takeoff, it’s easy to forget an item. Therefore, it is better to rely on a checklist to be on the safe side.
It is not a sign of weakness or poor flying skills to use checklists. Rather, it shows the desired level of professionalism when pilots have a tool to assist them in their checks. In this way, it also shows how important their own safety and that of their passengers and the people around them is to them.
Basically, there are “follow up checklists” and “read-and-do checklists:
- Follow-up checklists: In a “follow-up checklist”, the pilot first does the checks mentally. Afterwards, they take the actual checklist and go through all the items again to see if they’ve forgotten anything. This type of checklist is primarily for exterior checks on the aircraft, preflight inspections, and after aircraft takeoff. Some pilots might actually forget to check a certain item in years. Once a check is gone from the checklist in their mind, they usually never perform it again unless they use a mnemonic.
- Read-and-do checklist: A “read-and-do checklist” involves reading and working through item by item. This type of checklist is used, for example, when starting the engine or most emergency procedures. Especially in emergency situations, the stress level is very high. Then you can use a checklis to ensure that you’ve performed all necessary actions in the correct order.
The certification and operation of an aircraft are based on the specifications and guidelines of the manufacturer and the aviation authorities. That is why you cannot simply change the content of a checklist. However, it is quite possible to adapt the format to practical needs.
Taking safety standards to new heights with digital help
Complying with safety requirements using paper-based checklists can be tedious. Because of one’s routine, critical safety protocols can be overlooked or even skipped. With a digital tool in hand, performance can be evaluated more efficiently and safety standards can be improved.
Lumiform’s mobile app and desktop software enables the efficient use of checklists in aviation safety management. Checklists can be quickly adapted to current conditions and specifications, saving time. No more checks are skipped because the tool does not allow it. In addition, pilots , student pilots and instructors are reminded of the necessary checks and informed if a check has not taken place.
With Lumiform the powerful mobile inspection app, flight schools and aircraft fleets can eliminate the need for traditional paper checklists and enjoy the benefits of:
- Customize checklists to their liking with the flexible form builder
- Take photos of aircraft defects and quickly alert technicians and or instructors
- Easily annotate checklists and send automatically generated reports to responsible parties
- Easily analyze history to identify recurring errors
- Confirm everything with digital signature