Pragmatic SMS 

SMS-P

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

Pragmatic  SMS

Duration: 2.5 days
CEUs: 2
Tuition: $2,000.00 USD

Pragmatic SMS is designed for aviation operators, managers, and leaders who are not safety managers yet require a succinct overview of Safety Management Systems, or for safety managers who do not have the time for the five-day Safety Manager’s Course.  In this course, the student will learn how to implement and maintain a safety management system in his/her organization through utilizing a pragmatic and functional approach.

 

Specifically, the student will:

 

  • Understand how safety management systems evolved in aviation safety to set the foundation for learning the purpose of SMS.
  • Become familiar with the standard ICAO SMS framework and how each component/element works towards the aim of reducing risk.
  • Learn the 13 practical applications of SMS in the context of everyday work.
  • Recognize ways to foster employee engagement with the SMS and the importance of leadership inspiring involvement.

Safety management systems have been touted as the ideal way for an organization to control risk in operations over the last almost two decades. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted safety management systems as Annex 19, which include an instruction for State Civil Aviation Authorities to implement safety management regulations for commercial international aviation as well as helicopters involved in international commercial operations. In the U.S., the FAA has implemented 14 CFR Part 5 for scheduled commercial operators (14 CFR 121) and will implement these regulations for 14 CFR 135 operations soon. Aside from the regulatory impetus, many industry standards incorporate an SMS requirement into the standard suite. While there has been a unified multi-front push for SMS in the fixed- and rotary-wing world, the guidance and instruction for operators to implement SMS has been varied, vague, and in some cases, not applicable.

 

The Safety Management System by nature can be scaled for operator complexity and mission through the way the SMS standards are applied. However, instruction has revolved around the 4 component and 12 element framework turning the SMS into an academic exercise versus a pragmatic solution to controlling risk. Furthermore, the organization will perpetuate this learning through documentation as they try to resolve everyday work through tying it to the rigid framework. SMS is something vibrant and alive and thus – as an approach or way – guides the function and scope of SMS activities in a given organization. This course looks at SMS through a functional lens in that SMS activities are the focused upon rather than theoretical structure.

 

Students in this course will:

 

  • Understand the evolution of aviation safety focus and how SMS came to be in aviation.

  • Be able to identify ICAO standards and recommended practices as well as FAA regulations associated with SMS.

  • Understand the purpose of SMS in relation to the organizational accident.

  • Become familiar with the ICAO SMS framework and the objective of each component/element.

  • Comprehend why a strict framework approach to documenting and executing SMS leads to confusion and broken processes.

  • Understand how to scope the SMS in the organization and why this is important.

  • Be able to identify the appropriate elements of a sound SMS policy, the importance of leadership’s participation in policy development, and how policy relates to all activities in the SMS.

  • Understand the importance and construction of valid and impacting safety objectives and leadership’s role in helping to establish these objectives.

  • Become familiar with all the roles in an SMS and what each role is responsible for as well as the documentation of these roles and responsibilities.

  • Understand the criticality of safety reporting, recognize the elements of a robust reporting system and what should be reported. Additionally, the student will determine the need for justness and psychological safety in reporting.

  • Understand what a hazard is, recognize the methods for identification and assessment as well as understand the importance of a hazard register.

  • Understand the importance of safety investigations for reactive hazard identification and continuous improvement through remediation.
  • Recognize the need for investigation triggers and understand the integrative investigative process focusing on the “why”.

  • Comprehend what safety performance monitoring and measurement is, the difference between measuring and monitoring, and the application of SPIs and SPTs to both.

  • Understand the notion of continuous improvement in the context of internal evaluation and how other SMS activities can contribute to continuous improvement.

  • Recognize the importance of developing a safety communication strategy and how to execute upon that strategy.

  • Understand how to establish SMS training (initial and recurrent) that is specific to organizational roles.

  • Be able to identify what should be included in the SMS documentation and how to structure the manual for success.

  • Recognize sound change management techniques and how to lead the organization through safety-related changes.

  • Understand the need for an emergency response plan (ERP), identify what should be included in the ERP, and understand how to coordinate it with appropriate stakeholders.

  • Understand the challenges of employee engagement in the SMS, how motivation theory can help with engagement, and how leadership is critical in creating safety citizens.