Week 8

Question 1

Why did Safety Management Systems come into development ?

Answer 1

Need to understand safety from holistic point of view (complex systems create complex accidents)
Need for proactive approach as opposed to reactive

Question 2

Why are SMS implemented ?

Answer 2

Necessary to maintain high organisation standards through integrity (technical, procedural, human)
Ensure safety activities and improvements organised and coordinated internally/externally

Question 3

How does SMS relate to the law?

Answer 3

It provides the minimum requirements for an org to show commitment to safety

Question 4

What is ICAOs SMS manual aim?

Answer 4

“A systematic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organisational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures.”

• sets international standards covering many stakeholders

Question 5

What is within the mandatory framework of an SMS?

Answer 5

•each organisation has the duty to establish its own activities, methodologies and processes, and ensure compliance

Question 6

Who is responsible for outlining the organisations responsibility for safety? How is the commitment to safety shown?

Answer 6

The highest level of the service provider hierarchy
Senior management show commitment by setting and enforcing safety policy objectives

Question 7

With regards to safety policy, after policies and objectives are established what needs to be defined at all levels in organisation?

Answer 7

Safety accountabilities and safety personnel

Question 8

Service providers are responsible for making an Emergency Response Plan. What does this entail?

Answer 8

A smooth transition from normal to emergency operations and safe return to normal

Question 9

What needs to be recorded to ensure SMS traceability ?

Answer 9

Records of all safety policies and objectives

Question 10

Service providers are expected to account for all risks within their organisation in order to meet the set safety objectives. What does risk management consist of?

Answer 10

Identify and analyse safety occurrences and hazards which demonstrate less safety
Estimate risk as f(severity, likelihood)
Benchmark against targets
Acknowledge and mitigate risk

Question 11

What do safety risks include ?

Answer 11

Accident and incident risks
Hazard risks
Precursors to safety occurrences

Question 12

How can risks be managed ?

Answer 12

Avoidance by eliminating tasks
Reduction of risk through improving reliability of component
Segregating exposure (ie explosion barrier)

Question 13

Mitigation’s are assessed based on four factors. These are

Answer 13

Cost
Effectiveness
Feasibility
Unintended consequences

Question 14

How is the effectiveness of safety risk management measures monitored ? What is needed for effective monitoring ?

Answer 14

• safety assurance
• well defined safety performance indicators. Info from audits and reports used to determine indicators and compare to benchmark for action

Question 15

Indicators are derived through the data collected by the service provider’s reporting systems that can be either:

Answer 15

Mandatory - based on regulatory requirements to record info on occurrences leading to severe outcomes
Voluntary - collect info on occurrences which result or could result in unwanted outcomes of lower severity

Question 16

Data can also be collected through internal and external audits. Why are these done?

Answer 16

Assess service providers compliance with safety regulations and provisions of SMS
Provide assurance of management of safety through staffing, training, competency etc

Question 17

How is safety promoted?

Answer 17

Training and education for each employee proportional to role in safety
Established communication between all levels of hierarchy

Only possible in organisations of strong safety culture and climate

Question 18

CHIRP is a voluntary anonymous reporting system in the UK for aviation and maritime employees. How does it work?

Answer 18

It allows employees to write reports describing unsafe conditions

Question 19

Reporting systems identify situations with high severity and low frequency or …, which allows them to set mitigations in an optimum way by quantifying the safety occurrences

Answer 19

Low severity and high frequency

Question 20

Major results from repeated analysis of safety data can:

Answer 20

Evidence safety level variations
Allow organisation to modify safety plan (i.e. reallocate resources and modify objectives, setting new priority)

Question 21

Databases are primarily used for legal purposes such as accident rate monitoring. However more sophisticated methods have come around to…

Answer 21

Improve the level of reporting and details, allowing for statistical analysis

Question 22

Data can be collected by companies with a focus on making improvements. Within the air traffic management community what source of data is a major focus?

Answer 22

Incident reports

Question 23

Incident-reporting databases might have bias due to …

Answer 23

A tendency to over or under report on specific safety occurrences

Question 24

How is a reporting culture made ?

Answer 24

1. Safety from discipline
2. Anonymity
3. Separating organisation that collects and analyses data from regulatory body
4. Rapid, useful, accessible, intelligible feedback to reporting community
5. Ease of reporting

Question 25

What are factors organisations need to consider in reporting ?

Answer 25

1. Info to be collected (ie qualitative ?)
2. How info will be used (feedback, reducing error)
3. Analysis aids in collecting and analysing data
4. Organisation of scheme (centralised or local, mandatory or voluntary)

Important to consider organisations view of why humans make mistakes

Question 26

Which groups won’t report ?

Answer 26

1. Those who fear discipline (worry about ‘blame culture’)
2. Those with View that management won’t do anything about it
3. Those who accept risk and think it can’t be prevented
4. Those who find it too time consuming or hard to report