Key Elements in Aviation Safety

Question: Identify and explain the key elements in aviation safety. Answer: Introduction Safety Management System or SMS is fast becoming a norm in the industry worldwide for the aviation sector. It is recognized by, Joint Planning Development Office (JPDO), Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and service/product providers as the improved stage in ensuring flight safety. To regulators and product/service providers (certificate holders), SMS will combine safety assurance concepts and modern safety risk management into proactive and repeatable systems (Faa.gov, 2016). SMS focus safety management in the same way to the critical business methods as in other business management aspects. To FAA and certificate holders it provides management capability, knowledge sharing, safety assurance via risk controls, safety promotion by safety culture, and decision making. This case study on Aviation Safety discusses the key elements integral to the aviation safety including the four areas of SMS Safety Risk Management, Safety Promotion, Safety Policy and Safety Assurance. Detailed explanations made for each term along with its relation to SMS. Six-Point Safety Strategy, which is Runaway Safety, Loss of Control In-flight, Controlled Flight into Terrain, Cabin Safety, Fatigue, and Flight Management System has also been explained with mitigation strategies (Faa.gov, 2016). Discussion and Analysis There are different Aviation Safety (AVS) Programs and Initiatives that have been undertaken to ensure flight safety, the notable among them is the Safety Management System (SMS). The main idea of SMS is to approach safety risk systematically within acceptable limits. It can apply to the regulator responsible for safety oversight or the service provider/product. It consists of four key components, and they are SA or Safety Assurance, SRM or Safety Risk Management, Safety Promotion, and Safety Policy. Safety culture is also an intangible functional component of the SMS. According to Halford (2016), Safety Assurance measures the effectiveness of the risk control strategies, which already exists and identifies any new hazards. SMS process those management functions for safety requirements which organizations either meet or exceed. The dual safety assurance focuses provided by AVS SMS are Product/service providers and AVS organizations. SA ensures that it follows the directives, standards, and policies of FAA orders and SMS requirements and they are Data Analysis, System Assessment, and Information Acquisition. Information Acquisition further includes Employee Reporting and Audits and evaluations. For minimizing risk and improving safety, SA provides analysis and insights regarding various opportunities and methods while existing assured functions will be analyzed and enhanced upon (Clothier and Walker, 2015). Safety Risk Management (SRM) evaluates the new or existing risk controls requirement and adequateness based on acceptable risk assessment. The formal process in SMS consists of the following steps System Description, Hazards Identification, Risk Assessment, Risk Analyzing, and Risk Controlling. SRM can be used to embed in the processes that will provide the service/product (Cromie et al., 2015) As stated by Kim (2014), Safety Promotion includes communication, training, and other methods to create a positive environment in each workforce levels. SMS Framework includes the safety promotional activities such as matching competency requirements to system requirements, system and safety communication and awareness, strengthening/advocating a positive safety environment, providing SMS training, and disseminating safety lessons learned. In Safety Promotion everyone plays a certain part in promoting safety. Safety Policy defines the processes, methods and organizational structure required to fulfill the safety objectives. It establishes the commitment from the senior management to ensure the security continually. To manage the given objectives, safety policy sets engagement and safety goals. It provides safety performance to management commitment through SMS (Oster, Strong, and Zorn, 2013). It ensures transparency in safety management in the form of employee resolution and reporting system, administration and staff accountability, and fully documented processes and policy. Safety Policy builds upon the existing procedures and processes. It facilitates cross-organizational cooperation and communication (Rodrigues and Cusick, 2012). As opined by Ronit (2014), Six-Point Safety Strategy has been established in close partnership with the Strategic Partners and member airlines through the Operations Committee (OPC) and IATA Safety Group (SG). It focuses on six main areas namely Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT), Runaway Safety, Cabin Safety, Loss of Control In-flight, Flight Management System, and Fatigue. These main areas are recognized through GADM or Global Aviation Data Management (Halonen, Siitonen and Tornberg, 2014). Loss of Control (LOC-I) is one of the primary reasons flights deviate from their intended path causing accidents due to engine failures, stalls or icing. To mitigate this issue, a document has been created which covers the design and characteristics of aircraft and other aspects of the managerial and organizational role in aviation disasters as been recorded (Weyer, 2016). Cabin safety is maintained to prevent injury and any escalation of any abnormality into an emergency (Nameghi and Ariffin , 2013). To prevent fatigue, Fatigue Management Guide documentation is made and includes valuable insights into the framework and methodology for creating an effective risk management program with detailed explanations (Caldwell and Caldwell, 2016). CFIT accident risk mitigation strategies are done by categorizing into three categories called Procedural, Technological and Human (Yang et al., 2013). To prevent runaway accidents, runaway safety is ensured by the provided documentation from IATA (Hubbard, 2015). Conclusion Of SMS consist of Safety Promotion, SRM or Safety Risk Management, Safety Policy and SA or Safety Assurance. DRM determines the adequacy and need for newly revised or existing risk controls based on the acceptable risk assessment. Safety Promotion consist communication, training, and other methods to develop a positive environment at each level of the workforce. SA assesses the implemented risk control strategies continual effectiveness and aids the identification of new hazards. Safety Policy creates the engagement of senior management to improve safety continually, defines the organization structure, processes, and methods to fulfill the safety goals. Adopting Six-Point Strategy can reduce the operational risks to a great extent and covers main areas, such as loss of control in-flight to avoid aircraft from deviating and causing accidents, controlled flight into terrain, runway safety, cabin safety, and fatigue. References Caldwell, J.A. and Caldwell, J.L., 2016.Fatigue in Aviation: A Guide to Staying Awake at the Stick. Routledge. Clothier, R.A. and Walker, R.A., 2015. 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