Consistency Is Comforting: The Four Constants of SMS
Consistency Is Comforting: The Four Constants of SMS
SMS is currently a hot topic. At some organizations it’s now required by law, and for others it’s considered a best practice or expected norm. Although the FAA’s Safety Management Systems Final Rule acknowledges this won’t look the same for every organization, the one thing we do know is any fundamentally sound SMS has four components: Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, and Safety Promotion. It’s no coincidence these comprise Subparts B through E of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 5 SMS requirements.
How these components are developed, implemented, and maintained, however, will likely be different for each organization. Let’s take a high-level peek into these SMS cornerstones.
Safety Policy
What is your organization’s vibe? Are people afraid to speak out? Are they punished if they bring problems to the attention of higherups, or is safety reporting encouraged? You can guess which of these vibes is crucial to a healthy SMS. Creating a culture where it is acceptable for any individual to speak about areas of concern is essential to managing safety.
A positive safety culture starts from the top down, so it’s important to get the right people in the right places. Make sure your senior management is committed to this kind of open communication and reporting dialogue, and ensure they live that by example every day. Write this culture into your safety objectives and reporting policy, and continuously promote it far and wide for everyone to know and understand.
Safety Risk Management
What are the understood risks in your industry? Which ones are avoidable and which are inherent, yet manageable? Hazards and risks could be born from human error, failures at technical functions, or during other steps in your systems and processes (meaning your operating environment). A healthy safety risk management system first identifies and investigates those hazards through processes such as safety reporting (voluntary or mandatory), audits, and monitoring operations. A healthy organization also doesn’t always blame its employees for errors; rather, it investigates the root causes and latent conditions to determine why they happened. Once hazards are identified, those risks must be assessed and analyzed to develop effective mitigation strategies.
Safety Assurance
Is your SMS doing its job? It’s all fine and good to say you have a system in place, but it’s moot if that system isn’t effective—that’s where Safety Assurance comes in. Internal audits are one way to make sure your organization is compliant with state regulations, adhering to company policies and procedures, and implementing risk controls effectively. There are, however, many elements to Safety Assurance and varying degrees of what might be needed depending on the size of your organization.
Safety Promotion
Once you have all these beautiful elements of SMS in place, how do you communicate and promote your system? Your detailed policies, objectives, measurements, and analyses won’t do much good if no one knows about them.
Safety Promotion begins with a positive safety culture facilitating open information sharing. It doesn’t just happen with the push of a button, though—the execution of Safety Promotion and positive culture take time to develop. One key ingredient is training: although all employees need SMS training, they all don’t need the exact same education. Think back to that vibe in your organization—respecting your employees’ time and needs and providing them with support to fulfill their job responsibilities is one way to enhance your organization’s culture, as well as satisfy your SMS! Remember, how you’re training your team is just as important as what you’re training them on.
SMS is an ongoing process; these steps evolve as your organization does. The bottom line is that whether it’s ICAO Annex 19, FAA part 5, or the FAA’s Final Rule, the four components of SMS remain consistent around the world and across industries. Hopefully, these exist in your organization today, but if not, it’s never too late to start your SMS journey.
Do you have questions or concerns about SMS? Share them with us!
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