# Presentation: 080327

## 31st Annual Airport Conference – Hershey, PAImplementing Safety Management Systems in Part 139 Airports

- 31st Annual Airport Conference – Hershey, PA**Implementing Safety Management Systems in Part 139 Airports**

*        *
*                                                     **Manuel Ayres, Ph.D.*

## Briefing Outline

- Introduction
- Understanding ASMS
- Challenges and implementation principles
- ASMS Documentation
- Implementation Plan

## Why ASMS?

**Adapted from Flight Safety Foundation (1997)**

**Why ASMS?**

**Notes:**
The red (bottom) line in this graph shows worldwide trends in aviation accident rates, as well as projected accident rates through the year 2010.  The green (middle) line depicts the traffic growth which is expected to increase dramatically over the next 10 years.  The blue (top) line shows the predicted increase in accident frequency due to the rapid industry expansion.  Note that this predicted increase is based on the current accident rate; therefore, even if the accident rate stays the same over the next decade, the raw number of accidents will increase markedly.  Furthermore, as can be seen from the graph, there may be as many as 52 accidents a year worldwide during the first decade of the new century.  This  translates into an astonishing one accident a week.

Note.  Graph adapted from Flight Safety Foundation (1997).  Values plotted in the graph are estimates based on industry statistics. 

## What is SMS?

- A system to help improve safety
- Resembles a total quality system
- Comprised of blocks and elements
- Safety Policies and Objectives
- Safety Risk Management
- Safety Assurance
- Safety Promotion
- Helps developing safety awareness and safety culture

## ICAO Regulatory Approach

- ICAO states that “...The rationale to regulation is to complement the regulatory approach to the management of safety with a performance based approach:
- Based on continuous collection and analysis of daily operational data
- Data intensive identification of hazards
- Data driven prioritization of risks
- Informed allocation of resources to mitigate prioritized risks
- Continuous assessment (of safety) and auditing (of SMS)”.

## Improving Airport Safety

- Demonstrate management commitment to safety
- Introduce reactive and proactive processes to manage risk
- Investigate accidents and incidents
- Identify hazards
- Prioritize risks and establish corrective actions
- Evaluate trends
- Train people (skills and safety)
- Promote safety and maintain safety awareness
- Implement safety assurance processes
- Improve communications
- Develop a safety culture

## Before and After SMS

**Before**
- Safety is a priority for me but I can’t translate that to my airport
- What should I do to improve safety?
- I don’t know what my workers think about safety and how safely they are doing their job
- How safe is my airport?
- My operation managers keep my airport safe

**After**
- I have a way to ensure safety is a priority at my airport
- I have a risk-based prioritized list of things that I should do to improve safety
- My workers are trained and they help keeping the airport a safe place
- I measure safety performance and what are the trends
- Every airport worker help maintain and improve safety

## Current Status in the U.S.

- Some Part 139 airports are developing SMS programs as part of the FAA Pilot Program
- Airports have good safety records; however they can be improved
- Currently, airports have no systematic approach to deal with safety
- When present, risk management is geared towards liability issues
- FAA is likely to mandate SMS for Part 139 airports
- There is little monitoring of safety trends
- Little hazard reporting processes in-place
- Lack of safety assurance processes

## Airport SMS Elements (FAA AC 150/5200-37)

## 1 - Safety Policy and Objectives

- Commitment to safety
- Defines measurable safety goals
- Establish reporting system policy (non-punitive)
- Defines safety accountabilities
- Establish the SMS structure, including safety committees
- Documentation
- Record keeping

## 2 – Safety Risk Management

- The SRM Cycle
- Describe system
- Identify hazards
- Assess risk
- Prioritize risks
- Corrective actions and follow-up
- Require basic training

## Risk assessment

- Perceived as very complex... it does not have to be
- The risk matrix:
- Simple
- Powerful
- Understandable without training
- Can be used routinely
- Does not require much qualification

## Airport Safety Issues

- Runway incursions
- Foreign Object Damage (FOD)
- Airside ground traffic
- Winter services procedures
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Apron safety management
- Change in conditions
- Airport development, construction and maintenance activities

## Airport Construction

- Is the work coordinated with other airport activities (air traffic, apron management, security, etc.)?
- Is construction area clearly marked, signaled and isolated?
- Is the construction job going to affect airport operations?
- Will NOTAMs be required?
- Are temporary access routes identified?
- Are temporary threshold and operational areas clearly marked before opening to operations?
- Are construction workers adequately trained and briefed regarding the airport operations and hazards?
- Is the area cleaned and inspected before the area is opened to operations
- Is there a safety coordinator in the contractor team?
- Has there been a pre-construction conference and safety issues for the project were extensively discussed

## How Do I Mitigate Risk?

- Risk = Probability x Severity
- Reduce probability, severity, or both
- Example:
- Hazard: rubber build-up on runway surface
- Risk: runway overrun
- Mitigate probability:
- Monitor friction and remove rubber
- Mitigate severity
- Improve runway safety areas
- Have an effective emergency plan

## 3 - Safety Assurance

*You cannot manage what you cannot measure*
- The key: measure the right things

## 4 - Safety Promotion

- Safety Culture Leadership
- Employees empowerment
- Demonstrated management leadership
- Incentive programs
- Non-punitive reporting
- Safety Culture Integration
- Communication and marketing
- Integrated training
- Organizational performance measurement
- Special events
- Partnering

## ASMS Challenges

- We (airport operations) have done a good job so far and our record is excellent; why change something that works?”
- ASMS is just another “flavor of the month”.  Like all the other safety programs in the past, it will pass and we will go back to the old ways
- “We seriously doubt that the regulator will let go of its old power to micromanage the way we do business and simply focus on our processes.
- Non-punitive reporting won’t work.  Our people don’t change unless there is a strong incentive to change.
- This will cost money that we don’t have.

## ASMS Challenges – Managing Interfaces

## Key principles

- Key leading performance measures
- Build on existing good practices
- Tailored to existing conditions
- Management support
- Employee ownership
- A culture that’s understood and leveraged
- Defined and enforced accountabilities
- Continuous improvement

## Airport Authorities Involvement

- Need to be a partnership
- Need full support and assistance to help effecting these changes
- Include ongoing partnered work groups etc.
- The final product should be more than a paper deliverable

## SMS Implementation

## Review of Airport Documentation

- Familiarize with airport before Gap Analysis
- Identify SMS elements in-place
- Docs include:
- ACM
- AEP
- Rules & Regulations
- SOPs
- Policies
- Organization
- etc.

## Gap analysis

- Familiarization with the airport
- Determine what is in-place and what is missing
- Interviewing airport staff, tenants, agencies
- Currently based on FAA/ICAO structure
- The purpose is not to find gaps relative to Part 139 requirements
- Initiate buy-in (management, employees, tenants, agencies)
- Preliminary assessment of existing safety culture

## Solutions for SMS Processes

- Based on conclusions from Gap Analysis
- Determine how processes will be installed
- Create
- Adapt
- Improve
- Identify stakeholders
- Familiarize key airport staff with SMS processes

## SMS Manual

- Introduction
- Safety Policies and Objectives
- Safety Risk Management
- Safety Assurance
- Safety Promotion
- Appendices

## Implementation Plan

- Use a phased approach
- Initiate with SMS for airside
- Phase 1 – Policies & Objectives
- Phase 2 – SRM
- Phase 3 – Safety Assurance
- Phase 4 – Safety Promotion
- Phase 5 - Other
- Describe tasks, subtasks, sponsors, resources, schedule and estimated costs
- Most tasks refer to the implementation of a new process or adapting and improving an existing one
- Provide guidance material for implementation
- Provide summary

## SMS Implementation

## Contact Info

- Applied Research Associates
*Manuel Ayres*
*	** **	**410-540-9949 *
*	**	*_[mayres@ara.com](mailto:mayres@ara.com)_
*	**	*
*Richard Speir*
*	** **	**410-540-9949 *
*	**	*_[rspeir@ara.com](mailto:rspeir@ara.com)_