Apr4

Written by:
4/4/2009 3:00 PM 

For several years, aviation safety management has been regulated all over the planet for airfields, airlines, maintenance repair operations, air traffic control and helicopter operations; but, it has not been made mandatory for aviation service suppliers within the United States. In 2006, ICAO orders that states shall require, as part of their safety agenda, that operators, repair companies, ATS providers and certified air ports put into place a safety management system (SMS) received by the State that, as a minimum: identifies safety hazards; ensures that remedial action needed to maintain a suitable amount of safety is applied; offers constant tracking and regular evaluation of the protection level realized; and works to create continuous improvements to the level of safety.

Today's safety management principles provide a common sense line of attack to managing any aviation business of any dimension, and make sense for many companies irrespective of whether or not they're within the aviation industry. The aviation trade contains a terribly good record for practicing safe operations. Flying is safer than driving your auto to workplace each day. However, thanks to the severity of an aviation-related occurrences and also the mass media, the flying public has very little tolerance for aviation service providers that cut corners so as to avoid wasting cash or engage in indifferent behaviors.

At the root of each safety program is also a quality management program. To get the best gain, safety and quality mangement philosophy should be considered as management instruments rather than safety-centered necessities. Choosing the foremost acceptable philosophy and beneficial approaches to realize them can result in returns for any aviation service provider that will include enhancing the bottom line.

The foundation for efficient safety management has already been defined for the aviation trade in different components of the planet by ICAO. The practical necessities or the "focal point" of a good management systems are defined in the foundations as well as:
 *  Declaration of the operator's mission together with its management's commitment to safety;
 *  Instructions & actions to provide for daily operations
 *  Job descriptions, levels of authority and lines of communication between the operator's employees, significant safety personnel and top management;
 *  Programs to arrange for and respond to disasters;
 *  Techniques for reporting issues and implementing remedial actions; and
 *  Strategies for self-evaluation and management appraisal of arrangements to achieve mission goals and enrich operations.
 
These useful requirements may be applied as a classical framework for any company or corporate enterprise and are observed in industry segments such as medicinal, oil field services and maritime transportation. The term "safety" may easily be replaced with "quality" or "client satisfaction."

Any aviation service provider should concede that adoption of these requirements would play a part to the fulfillment of their daily operations and administration their company. The extent to which these needs ought to be incorporated and integrated into an operator's business processes is dependent on several items that may only be evaluated on a one-by-one basis.