7-1
Chapter 7 INTRODUCTION TO SAFETY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS SMS
7.1 OBJECTIVE AND CONTENTS
This chapter describes the basic features of safety management systems SMS and discusses the role and importance of properly describing the system system description and conducting a gap analysis before starting the SMS
implementation process. The chapter also discusses the relationship between SMS and quality management systems QMS. The chapter includes the following topics:
a
Introductory concepts;
b SMS
features; c
System description;
d Gap
analysis; e SMS and QMS;
f SSPSMS and the accident investigation process;
g Integration
of management systems;
h Clarifying terms; and i
The difference between safety slogans and safety principles.
7.2 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS 7.2.1
An SMS can be likened to a toolbox. It is a toolbox that contains the tools that an aviation organization needs in order to be able to control the safety risks of the consequences of the hazards it must face during the delivery
of the services for which the organization is in business. In many cases the organization itself generates the hazards during service delivery. It is important to acknowledge that an SMS itself is neither a tool nor a process. An SMS is the
toolbox, where the actual tools employed to conduct the two basic safety management processes hazard identification and safety risk management are contained and protected. What an SMS does for an organization is to provide a
toolbox that is appropriate, in size and complexity, to the size and complexity of the organization. 7.2.2
As a toolbox Figure 7-1, an SMS ensures that when specific tools are needed for hazard identification and safety risk management:
a the right tools for the task at hand are available for the organization to use;
7-2 Safety Management Manual SMM
Figure 7-1. SMS — A toolbox
b the tools and task are properly related; c the tools are commensurate with the needs and constraints of the organization; and
d the tools can be easily found within the tool box, without unnecessary waste of time or resources. This perspective is important, because an SMS simply is a protective shell that ensures proper and timely storage,
availability and utilization of the tools needed to deliver specific safety management processes in the organization. Without the proper tools inside, an SMS is only an empty shell.
7.2.3 Chapter 3, in its closing summary, sketches several characteristics or distinguishing features of safety
management. One important characteristic is that safety management is not circumscribed to just one specific activity of the organization, generally the most conspicuous for example, flight operations of an airline, that might generate
hazards. Safety management addresses all of the operational activities of the entire organization. The scope of an SMS encompasses most of the activities of the organization, and certainly all operational activities that support delivery of
services and contain the potential to generate hazards. The scope of an SMS directly includes operations, maintenance, repair, support services, training and checking and other operational activities. The scope of an SMS indirectly includes,
as appropriate and relevant to service delivery, other organizational activities that support operational activities, such as finance, human resources and legal, as discussed in Chapter 3.
Chapter 7. Introduction to Safety Management Systems SMS 7-3
7.2.4 An SMS must start with senior management. This is neither a rhetorical nor a philosophical statement, but
one which is grounded on very concrete reasons. The management of safety, as a core business function of an organization, requires resources, just like any other core business function. The allocation of resources is eminently a
function of senior management, in that senior management has both the authority and the responsibility for resource allocation. If senior management is not apprised of the role and objectives of the organization’s SMS, or involved at an
appropriate level in the organization’s SMS, it will not have an appreciation of the extent of the threat that safety risks represent to the capabilities of the organization. Without such an appreciation, allocation of resources may fall short of
real needs. In other words, the “dilemma of the two Ps” discussed in Chapter 3 will likely surface and remain unresolved.
7.2.5 An SMS aims to make continuous improvements to the overall level of safety of an organization. In
accordance with the nature of safety management as a core business function, an SMS involves non-stop, daily hazard identification, collection and analysis, safety risk estimation, and implementation of mitigation strategies. There is no
specific point at which an SMS stops or slows down. An SMS is a constant, never-ending operation that aims at maintaining and, if possible, improving safety levels that are commensurate with the organization’s strategic objectives
and supporting core business functions. In this sense, an SMS is profoundly different from the traditional notion of accident investigation, which waited for an accident to occur, then extracted and distributed as many safety lessons as
possible learned from the investigation in order to prevent similar accidents. An SMS actively looks for hazards, continuously assesses safety risks, to contain them before they result in an accident.
7.2.6 All aviation stakeholders play a role in SMS and, again, for very concrete reasons. It is important to identify
and involve aviation system stakeholders to ensure that their input and knowledge relevant to safety risk decisions are taken into consideration before such decisions are taken.
7.2.7 Furthermore, given the broad-ranging nature of SMS activities, input from multiple sectors to the safety risk
decision-making process is essential. The following is a list of stakeholders that may be called upon to assist in, or provide input to, the decision-making process on safety risks:
a aviation professionals; b aircraft owners and operators;
c manufacturers;
d aviation regulatory authorities; e industry trade associations;
f regional air traffic service providers;
g professional
associations and federations; h international aviation organizations;
i investigative agencies; and
j the flying public.
7.2.8 Stakeholders can assist organizational decision makers by ensuring that communication about the safety
risks under consideration takes place early and in a fair, objective and understandable way. For safety communication to be credible, it must be consistent with the facts, with previous statements from management and with the messages
from other authorities. These messages need to be expressed in terms the stakeholders can understand.
7-4 Safety Management Manual SMM
7.3 SMS FEATURES 7.3.1
Kategori