# Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Prepared For: Federal Aviation Administration Office of Airports Airport Safety and Operations Division

Prepared By: Landry Consultants LLC, on behalf of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Operations Senior Manager, Mark Coates

Date: 11/25/2009SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Revision History

Date Version Summary

11-18-09 v.0.1 Initial draft for SEA review

11-20-09 v.0.2 Revised draft

11-25-09 v.1.0 Final



### Prepared in Support of Statement of Wo rk Section A – Safety Policy, Task 2

Define Safety Manager’s roles and responsibilities including Safety Committee functions, where applicable. While roles and responsibilities of a ‘Safety Manager’ may vary at each airport, a core set of duties will be developed to help guide airports to determining who in the organization may best serve the SMS program. This includes development of a Safety Committee’s functions including authority and reporting capabilities. These roles will be reviewed with regard to the current Part 139 activities within the airport’s organization for assessment of future impact of SMS on Part 139 staffing and management. To complete this task, the airport will develop a comprehensive set of duties; develop options for shared and single Safety Management position; develop Safety Committee activities and sample process flows for reporting; and, provide guidance on how to engage current staff in Safety Committee activities. If changes are made to the airport’s SMS as a result of the findings under this task, the airport should report on those changes.

Safety Policy iSMS Roles and Responsibilities

Safety Policy ii 

## Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1

2.0 SMS Committees and Stakeholders ........................................................... 2

2.1 SMS Committees ................................................................................................ 3

2.1.1. Sea-Tac Safety Action Committee .............................................................. 3

2.1.2. FOD Subcommittee ..................................................................................... 4

2.1.3. Airside Safety Risk Management Subcommittee ........................................ 4

2.1.4. Landside/Terminal Safety Committees ........................................................ 4

2.2 SMS Committee Stakeholders ............................................................................ 8

2.1.5. Airport Safety Leaders ................................................................................. 8

2.1.6. Station Managers ........................................................................................ 8

2.1.7. Airline Airport Affairs Committee (AAAC) .................................................... 8

2.1.8. Internal Collaboration Groups (ad hoc) ....................................................... 9

2.1.9. Senior Aviation Management (SAM) ........................................................... 9



### 3.0 SMS Positions - Core Skills ...................................................................... 12

3.1 Safety Manager Skills ................................................................................... 13

3.2 Safety Specialist Skills .................................................................................. 14



### 4.0 Roles and Responsibilities ........................................................................ 15

3.3 SMS Personnel Core Duties ......................................................................... 15

4.1 SMS Personnel Collateral Duties ..................................................................... 15

4.1.1 SMS Manager ............................................................................................ 16

4.1.2 SMS Specialist .......................................................................................... 18

4.2 SMS Personnel Collateral Duties ..................................................................... 19

4.2.1 Accountable Executive .............................................................................. 19

4.2.2 Airport Duty Manager ................................................................................ 19

4.2.3 Airport Operations Specialist ..................................................................... 20

4.2.4 Maintenance Liaison .................................................................................. 20

4.2.5 Maintenance Lead ..................................................................................... 20

4.2.6 Communications & Dispatch Liaison ......................................................... 20

4.2.7 Tenants ...................................................................................................... 20

4.2.8 Health & Safety Liaison ............................................................................. 21

4.2.9 Port Construction Services Liaison ............................................................ 21

4.2.10 Risk Management Liaison ......................................................................... 21

4.2.11 Environmental Liaison ............................................................................... 21



### 5.0 Integrated Duties – Hazard Example ........................................................ 22

6.0 Summary of Findings ................................................................................ 24



## List of Figures
Figure 1 - SMS Committees .................................................................................. 3 Figure 2 – Interoperability Exampl e - Hazard Flow by SMS Role ....................... 23



## List of Tables
Table 1 - Committee Roles and Responsibilities ................................................... 7

Table 2 – Stakeholder SMS Co llaboration / Integration ...................................... 11 Table 3 - SMS Manager Core Skills .................................................................... 13 Table 4 - Safety Specialist Core Skills ................................................................ 14SMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 1. Introduction

The success of a Safety Management System (SMS) relies on qualified, experienced, and competent staffing. At the core of a SMS is the Safety Manager who typically provides program and project oversight, strategies, staff management, operational integration, and the culture inherent in the SMS. At large airports, a SMS is not likely to succeed without the full-time commitment of a Safety Manager. Collectively, existing staff cannot take on the various management and tactical tasks of a Safety Manager as collateral duties. This recommendation is largely due to the need to manage the many, individual efforts (projects) that make up the SMS. The Safety Manager can provide oversight and serve as a central point of contact to coordinate staff activities and monitor

the SMS as a whole.

In selecting a Safety Manager, three core areas of proficiency and expertise should be met. These include Technical, Management, and “Soft” skills (see Section 3.0 Core Skills ). The Safety Manager must be qualified in each of these areas to ensure program success. And, since a key aspect of the Safety Manager’s role is to communicate and champion the SMS, soft skills are considered equally important as the technical and management skills.

This document reflects research, findings, and relevant information to help guide airports to the successful engagement and deployment of a SMS team including tenant responsibilities on SMS Committees. In addition to core skill sets for a Safety Manager and Safety Specialist are roles and responsibilities for both primary and collateral duty staff. The inherent success of an SMS relies on participation throughout the organization; the role of the Safety Manager is to enlist the assistance of additional resources and stakeholders to implement and operationalize the program. The Safety Manger alone cannot make an SMS succeed, but the collection of resources, skills, and knowledge the Safety Manager brings to the program can guide and shape the disparate efforts more effectively.

A SMS can be comprised of an intricate set of processes and procedures; however, through solid interpersonal relationshi ps, effective communication among staff, collaboration, and clear guidelines to roles and responsibilities, the SMS team can overcome many of the complexities.

Safety Policy 1SMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 2. SMS Committees and Stakeholders

As part of a SMS program committees create a community, a conduit for communicating and resolving safety issues, and an opportunity to develop stronger safety relationships. Most airports conduct safety meetings in a variety of formats and functions. Committees should include representatives who have adequate expertise to either make decisions or assign a subject matter expert to assist in decision making. A SMS committee’s primary function is to ensure safety is improved through hazard identification and analysis and

corrective measures. Success of a SMS Committee is founded on trust and on an agreement that safety is a collective goal.

The diagram on the following page represents the existing and proposed committees to support the SMS at Sea-Tac. The groups are placed in context of formal and informal communication paths from committees, to subcommittees, to key stakeholder groups. At the core of the program are SMS-specific committees (Sea-Tac Safety Action and future Landside and Terminal Safety Committees).

Also included in the illustration are two new subcommittees that support the SMS program through staff participation in risk assessments and foreign object debris (FOD) programs. FOD and risk programs require cl ose collaboration between the airport and tenants and merit a smaller, focused team to build continuity and resolve issues quickly and effectively. Aside from these subcommittees, no new committees will be developed to support the SMS. Members of the subcommittees are expected to be a subset of the core Sea-Tac Safety Action Committee which will provide continuity, safety awareness, and integrated communication.

Surrounding the committees are relevant stakeholder groups who are established at Sea-Tac and who will have review and approval functions for some of the SMS committee activities, budgets, and policies. Specific committee functions are described

further in the next section.

Safety Policy 2SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Figure 1 - SMS Committees



## 2.1 SMS Committees

As the SMS evolves, so will the community that participates in the proposed committees and review sessions. The committees will not be static and will focus on discussing and resolving safety concerns as a collaborative group. Although politics can exist in all levels of airport/tenant relationships, the team’s research suggests that the proposed committees are more likely to succeed in managing safety if the meetings focus on compiling accurate facts, sharing responsibil ities, and resolving safety issues as a community of informed stakeholders. A brief description of each committee is presented in Sections 2.1.1 through 2.1.4.



### 1.1.1. Sea-Tac Safety Action Committee

The Sea-Tac Safety Action Committee was form erly referred to as the Airline Safety Committee. During this study, the name wa s specifically changed because the previous name did not accurately reflect the either the committee purpose or attendees. The group is comprised of airport and tenant representatives such as senior operations managers, station managers, ramp managers, safety managers, safety trainers, and other safety related staff such as Sea-Tac’s Safety Construction and Health & Safety

Safety Policy 3SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Liaisons. The committee is currently co-chaired by an Operations Senior Manager and a Station Manager. The Operations Senior Manager provides the committee oversight regarding logistics and leadership and the St ation Manager typically facilitates the meeting. Over the past year, the meeting has evolved to focus more effectively on documenting and discussing issues regarding collective concerns such as snow removal procedures, ramp drive lane compliance, FOD on the ramp and garbage in the bagwell, and speeding in general. Meeting notes are scribed and action items are identified but, because a SMS is not officially in place at Sea-Tac, the committee is working in an ad

hoc manner to document and track these conc erns. While recent improvements have been made to the format and content of the meeting, without the support, scope, charter, and structure of a formal SMS and associated Safety Manager, the Team believes the committee will continue to struggle with formally and consistently collecting information on hazards, identifying responsibility, and tracking mitigation. Actions are assigned to specific groups and often coordinated with maintenance to review and resolve the issue, but no formal process or oversight is in place to ensure resolution actually takes place.

As part of the future SMS, this committee will serve as a primary forum to discuss potential hazards, safety issues, safety policies, and other safety topics., Both airport and tenant personnel will be expected to attend the meetings to provide expertise or advisements to the group.



### 1.1.2. FOD Subcommittee

As mentioned in the FOD Program Manual , an expanded FOD program is proposed for Sea-Tac. In addition to other resources requested from the SMS community, the FOD program calls for the development of a FOD Subcommittee. This Subcommittee was recently formed (Fall of 2009) and is chaired by a Ramp/Safety Manager. To date, the Subcommittee has briefly met to discuss existing and proposed FOD programs underway at Sea-Tac. To ensure the success of the FOD Subcommittee, a collaborative effort between Sea-Tac’s designed FOD Coordinator (assigned from the Airport Duty Manager Team) and the FOD Subcommittee Chair will need to be in place to organize and coordinate FOD efforts. The formalized structure of the SMS will provide a forum forFOD coordination at all levels of the organization including joint coordination of the SeaTac and tenant FOD programs.



### 1.1.3. Airside Safety Risk Ma nagement Subcommittee

The Guide to Safety Risk Management program outlines a structured process for assessing and mitigating identified hazards. The role of the Safety Risk Management Subcommittee members will be to serve as experts to perform risk assessments and provide recommendations for corrective actions for high risk hazards. As needed subject matter experts will meet to assess severity and probability of hazards to identify and rank risks and to discuss mitigation strategies. For more information on the proposed Risk processes and procedures, see the Guide to Safety Risk Management.



### 1.1.4. Landside/Terminal Safety Committees

The initial roll out of SMS at Sea-Tac will be limited to airside operations (including the bagwell), but eventually the program will be rolled out to landside and terminal operations. The Landside and Terminal Safety Committees will take on safety hazards

Safety Policy 4SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Safety Policy 5 that exist in the non airside operations and jointly resolve issues that bridge more than one operational area. It is likely the Safety Manager will attend these new meetings and likely serve as a leader as the new committees are formed and deployed.

Table 1 on the following pages presents responsibilities for each committee relevant to SMS and includes recommendations for Chair assignments. In some cases airports may decide to co-chair with a tenant, but for the purposes of this documentation, the recommendation is founded on the skills, objectives, and accountabilities of the most effective SMS stakeholder which are representatives of Sea-Tac. Additionally, a list of required and as-needed members is included.SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesCommitteeResponsibilities (as related to SMS program)ChairMembersSeaTac SafetyActionCommittee•Review high risk hazards and discuss mitigation strategies•Provide recommendations to AAAC for mitigations requiring capitalinvestment•Provide a forum to capture newly identified hazards for review andassessment by the SRM subcommittee•Determine ownership of hazards and corrective actions for those that do notclearly fall under either the airport or airline SMS•Disseminate relevant safety information•Participate in safety assurance (quality) programs, as defined•Draft, update, contributeto, or review airport SMS policies, as necessarySenior Manager, AirportOperationsSecondary – Airline Rep.Required•Airline Safety Managers•Ground Service Provider SafetyManagers•Airport Safety Manager•Airport Maintenance Liaison•Airport Health & Safety Liaison•Construction Safety LiaisonAs Needed•Airport Comm.& Dispatch Liaison•Airport Duty Manager•Airport Operations Specialist•Maintenance Lead•Risk Management Liaison•Environmental LiaisonFODSubcommittee•Coordinate ongoing FOD prevention activities, including FOD walks, trashremoval•Discuss and capture FOD hazards•Perform root cause analysis on FOD-related accidents/incidents•Review FOD trends and patterns•Collaborate and participate in FOD prevention strategies, enforcementmethods, and FOD-awareness campaigns•Organize and sponsor twice annual all-airport FOD walks•Make policy recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action CommitteeFOD Coordinator (AirportDuty Manager)Secondary – Airline Rep.•FOD Representative from eachtenant (airlines and GSPs)•Airport Safety Manager•Airport Safety Specialist•Airport Maintenance FODCoordinatorSafety Policy6SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesSafety Policy7Table 1 - Committee Roles and ResponsibilitiesAirside SafetyRiskManagementSubcommittee•Identify Airsidesafety hazards•Perform risk assessment for initial high risk hazards•Discuss corrective action alternatives and provide recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action Committee for high risk•Review safety trends and patterns•Make policy recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action CommitteeAirport Safety ManagerRequired•Airport Safety Specialist•Airport Safety ManagerAs Needed•Airport Duty Manager•Airport Operations Specialist•Airport Maintenance Liaison•Airport Maintenance Lead•Risk Management Liaison•Environmental Liaison•Construction Safety Manager•Airport Comm.& Dispatch Liaison•Airport Health & Safety Liaison•TenantsLandsideSafetyCommittee(pending)•Identify Landsidesafety hazards•Validate risk assessment forinitial high risk hazards•Discuss corrective action alternatives and provide recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action Committee for high risk•Review safety trends and patterns•Make policy recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action CommitteeTBDTBDTerminalSafetyCommittee(pending)•Identify Terminalsafetyhazards•Perform risk assessment for initial high risk hazards•Discuss corrective action alternatives and provide recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action Committee for high risk•Review safety trends and patterns•Make policy recommendations toSeaTac Safety Action CommitteeTBDTBDSMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 2.2 SMS Committee Stakeholders

A group of SMS Committee Stakeholders serves the SMS as interested business partners, budgetary approvers, information distributors, advisors, and subject matter experts. These stakeholders consist of both internal (Safety Leaders) and external (Airline Station Managers) groups that current ly exist in the Sea-Tac airport business and operations community. A brief description of each Stakeholder group and their importance to the SMS is presented below.



### 1.1.5. Airport Safety Leaders

Led by a Sea-Tac Deputy Director, the Airport Safety Leaders are a group of internal staff who meet monthly to review safety trends and activities. The group is focused on Sea-Tac staff as a priority but also include safety issues associated with construction projects, fire and police issues, and maintenance staff issues. The meeting is typically facilitated by Port of Seattle (POS) Health & Safety personnel who present information on POS staff injuries, accidents and incidents (including vehicular accidents), and bagwell citation information (manually collect ed from the Airport Duty Manager Logs). As SMS is introduced at Sea-Tac, the Airport Safety Leaders group will establish a formal relationship with the Safety Manager to discuss internal safety trends especially safety hazards that overlap with Health & Safety issues such as air quality, recommendations on personnel protective equipment (PPE) and human factors. The Safety Manager will attend the Airport Safety Leaders meetings to report on SMS Committees activities such as airside safety issues.



### 1.1.6. Station Managers

Station managers representing airlines and gr ound service providers meet monthly to discuss Sea-Tac facility and operations issues including airside, terminal, and landside concerns, problems, and operational changes. The group is chaired by a Station Manager on a rotating basis. Station Manager meetings provide an excellent forum to discuss safety issues that impact the ai rport-wide community. Also, Station Managers are in a position to disseminate information at a local and corporate level. The Safety Manager will attend Station Manager Meetings to brief the group on emerging safety issues, to ask for input on potential hazards, and to collaborate and prioritize hazard mitigations.



### 1.1.7. Airline Airport Affair s Committee (AAAC)

The Airline Airport Affairs Committee (AAAC) is comprised of airline and ground service provider representatives as a budgetary oversight committee. The committee meets quarterly and is chaired by a committee representative on a rotating basis. With regard to the SMS, any large-scale or high-cost corrective actions to resolve hazards would need to be presented to the committee for funding or other approval. To inform and educate the committee, the Safety Manager will attend meetings to provide program information and to brief the group on significant safety concerns or trends.

Safety Policy 8SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Safety Policy 9 

### 1.1.8. Internal Collaboration Groups (ad hoc)

At Sea-Tac, airport operations combines the skills and knowledge of many departments including Maintenance, Aviation Operations, Facilities Engineering, Construction Safety, Risk Management, and Health & Safety. The SMS will require formal and informal committee meetings to address safety trends, hazards, corrective actions, and best practices. Of the committees presented, this is the most fluid and flexible and will change depending on existing safety concerns and projects. The Safety Manager will lead these committee sessions and rely on the Safety Specialist to coordinate invitees as needed to support the effort. Buy in from each department represented will be critical to the success of these ad hoc committee meetings.



### 1.1.9. Senior Aviation Management (SAM)

Senior Aviation Management (SAM) is led by the Airport Director and made up of SeaTac Senior Airport Managers representing Finance, Airport Operations, Business Development, Public Affairs, Community Development, etc. These leaders meet on a recurring basis and discuss airport wide c oncerns and programs, trends, inter-related business and budget issues. SAM member buy in to SMS is extremely important to the program success. The SAM team has the ability to promote safety from the airport’s highest levels, which promotes a safety culture. The Safety Manager will attend the SAM meetings to instruct, inform, and fo ster SMS participation from the SAM.

Table 2 presents specific stakeholder groups, their integration and collaboration with the SMS, and additional or existing members as they related to the SMS.SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesStakeholderCollaboration/Integration with SMSMembersAirport Safety Leaders•Report out from SMS committees•Discuss Airside, Landside, and Terminal safety trends•Review safety hazards that overlap with internal Health & Safetyinitiatives (i.e. air quality in bag room)•Airport Safety Manager•Airport Health & Safety•Airport Maintenance•Airside Representative•Terminal Representative•Landside Representative•Construction RepresentativeStation Managers•Report out from Safety ManagementAction Committee on safety risks,trends, actions required from tenants•Review and discuss policy recommendations from Safety ActionCommittee, when necessary•Disseminate safety-related information to employees and to corporateoffice•Collaborate on solutions to airport-wide safety hazards, wherenecessary•Station Managers•Airport Duty Manager(s), as necessary•Airport Safety Manager•Senior Manager, Airport Operations•Ramp Services Manager•Airport Quality Assurance ManagerAirline Airport Affairs Committee(AAAC)•Report out from Safety ManagementAction Committee on safety risks,trends, high visibility tenant concerns•Approve large-scale, high-cost corrective action plans to mitigate risk•Airline Representatives•Airport Operations•Subject Matters Experts as neededInternal Collaboration Groups•Collaborate on corrective actions forsafety hazards thatimpact multiplegroups•Share safety-related information, data, and trends•Transfer and communicate hazards routed incorrectly•Maintenance•Health & Safety•Risk Management•Environmental•Port Construction Services•EngineeringSafety Policy10SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesSafety Policy11Table 2 – Stakeholder SMS Collaboration / IntegrationSenior Aviation Management (SAM)•Report out from Safety ManagementAction Committee on safety risks,trends•Review and approve policy recommendations from Safety ManagementAction committee•Review high risk hazards and corrective action plans•Promote SMS and safety-related initiatives•Foster and actively create safety culture•Participate in, lead and be visible at safety-related activities (includingFOD walks, safety fairs, etc.) as much as possible•Create and communicate open door, non-punitive environment andpolicy for hazard reporting•SeaTac Senior Airport ManagersSMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 3. SMS Positions - Core Skills

Two positions are recommended for the Sea- Tac SMS program: a Safety Manager and a Safety Specialist. These positions, while suggested for SMS implementation, have not yet been filled and are not, to the Team’s knowledge, included in the Sea-Tac 2010 staffing budget. Impact to full SMS implementation will need to be considered when the deployment phase of the project is initiated.

Core skills for each position are included in the following tables. These skills werecompiled through research and discussions with airport operations management at SeaTac and other airports that have SMS programs in place. The skills listed are not specific to Sea-Tac’s proposed SMS; in fact, they reflect the capabilities expected of Safety Managers and Specialists at most large hub Part 139, Class I airports. Each table is comprised of core and optional skills segmented into three sections:

• Soft Skills – Soft skills are essentially people skills; the intangible, personalityspecific skills that determine strengths as a communicator, negotiator, facilitator, diplomat, and problem solver

• Management Skills – Management skills in clude leadership capabilities including the ability to develop strategies, control budgets, manage staff, and implement change effectively

• Technical Skills – Technical skills for a Safety Manager include exposure to the aviation industry, proficiencies such as AAE certifications or a regulatory background. Technical skills are likely the easiest to quantify through resumes,
reviews, or interviews

Qualifications for a Safety Manager require a balance that integrates interpersonal and management skills, and technical proficiency. Because the Safety Manager role relies heavily on relationships with airport staff and tenants, the Safety Manager must have strong communication and people skills.

Also, in the early stages of the SMS implem entation, the Safety Manager will likely serve as a program / project manager but as the SMS evolves and becomes operational, the Safety Manager’s role shifts to SMS advocate, strategist, and ambassador. This combination of skills may seem difficult to find in today’s aviation industry where SMS is a new and emerging program. However, airports who have engaged Safety Managers and Safety Specialists indicate that an exce llent pool of qualified professionals exists, especially from the airline and risk industry, who can fill these positions.

The Safety Specialist position is a support role that is self-directed and focused on data and information management but also includes strong communication and investigative skills. The Safety Specialist will likely spend a great deal of time in the field collecting and validating information from hazard, acci dent, and incident reports. The Specialist will understand the organization and responsibilities to assist in escalation and issue resolution. The Specialist will manage the inputs and outputs of the SMS database including reports and alerts.

The two following tables provide a listing of soft, management, and technical skills for each of the positions: Safety Manager and Safety Specialist.

Safety Policy 12SMS Roles and Responsibilities3.1Safety Manager Skills

Core SkillsSoft SkillsManagement SkillsTechnical SkillsInquisitiveLeadershipRoot cause analysisTelecommunicationProgram managementAccident/incident investigationWritten/verbalBudget controlAviation backgroundPresentations/public speakingStrategy and planningSafety backgroundSelf starterAnalysis (dataand systems)Risk managementIndependentStaff managementData analysisPeople personSchedulingTechnology proficient (SW tools)MotivationalTask ManagementQA/QC backgroundDiplomaticImplementationAudit programsAbility to work with government agenciesProgram risk managementRegulatory complianceProblem solverEscalation/change managementEthicalBusiness and System process managementCollaborativeFacilitation

Additional/ Optional SkillsSoft SkillsManagement SkillsTechnical SkillsNegotiationBachelor's or Master's degreeOSHAC-level reporting experienceHealth and safetyAAERamp operationsAirport operationsIATA (IOSA or ISAGO)ICAOPart 139General airport experienceTable 3 - SMS Manager Core SkillsSafety Policy13SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesSafety Policy143.2Safety Specialist Skills

Core SkillsSoft SkillsManagement SkillsTechnical SkillsInquisitiveData managementRoot cause analysisSelf starterDocument managementAccident/incident investigationWorks independentlyProcess managementComputer proficientStrong verbal/communicationskillsTime managementStrong written/documentation skillsStrong analysis skillsCritical thinking skillsCustomer service skills

Additional/ Optional SkillsSoft SkillsManagement SkillsTechnical SkillsNegotiationStaff managementRamp operationsFacilitationCustomer managementAirport operationsPresentationsPart 139General airport experienceInspections/Audit experienceTable 4 - Safety Specialist Core SkillsSMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 2.0 Roles and Responsibilities

The integration of a SMS into airport operations requires a planned and coordinated effort where each individual participating in the program understands his or her roles and responsibilities. Designated SMS program staff such as the Safety Manager or Safety Specialist will manage and support the program through full time efforts, but the bulk of the day-to-day work, the observations, the hazard identification, the corrective actions will come from a collective pool of techni cal and professional experts. These experts include Airport Duty Managers; Airport Operations Specialists; Maintenance, Risk, Environmental, Construction Safety, and Health & Safety Liaisons; Communication Center Representatives; and tenants.



## 3.3 SMS Personnel Core Duties

Two full time positions are proposed for a SMS; the Safety Manager and Safety Specialist positions. These positions, while recommended for SMS implementation, have not yet been filled and are not, to the Team’s knowledge, included in the Sea-Tac 2010 budget. Impact to full SMS implementation will need to be considered when the implementation project is initiated. These positions are considered designated resources necessary to manage and support the SMS program. Core responsibilities are defined in Sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 for the Safety Manager and Safety Specialist as either Implementation (Project Management and Support) efforts, or Operations (Program Management and Support) responsibilities for eac h of the SMS Elements (Policy, Risk, Assurance, and Promotion). The Core duties include interactions with collateral duty staff and tenants and participation in committees and meetings as described in

Section 2.



## 4.1 SMS Personnel Collateral Duties

Section 4.4 includes a list of all identified Sea-Tac staff and tenants and their SMS responsibilities. This includes responsibilities for the Accountable Executive who will bear ultimate accountability for the SMS program. The Team recommends that the Accountable Executive position be filled at the highest level of the airport organization because of the authority held.

Safety Policy 15SMS Roles and Responsibilities



### 4.1.1 SMS Manager

Core Responsibilities - Operat ions - Program Management

Develop strategies

Develop alliances and relationships

Develop program mission and vision

Design and develop program (program plan, goals, oversight)

Define and establish program policies, objectives, and standards including compliance

Develop program safety baseline and benchmark goals including monitoring, tracking and performance evaluation

Manage and continuously improve operational safety performance

Ensure all government safety regulations, corporate safety policies, and industry-wide safety programs and

initiatives are met

Continue to monitor/keep current with regulatory requirements

Attend conferences, make presentations, and share best practices with industry partners and other airports

Evaluate existing safety systems for program integration

Manage budget and grants (if applicable)

Manage documentation and record keeping

Provide ongoing reports to top management

Define roles and responsibilities for SMS staff

Hire and manage SMS staff

Collaborate with internal airport groups such as maintenance and operations

Collaborate with tenants

Serve as a safety ambassador

Participate in Safety Meetings

Coordinate with other agencies and organizations including the FAA and the general public

Core Responsibilities - Implemen tation – Project Management

Develop implementation schedule and budget

Assess implementation project impact to existing staff and assign duties

Develop a plan to integrate the SMS program plan into the overall airport operation (initially for airside but eventually to landside and terminal – this plan should be developed early in the project planning phase)

Manage consultant and deliverables

Coordinate internal staff participation, commitment, and logistics

Provide project oversight and budget management

Report project and budget status to management

Core Responsibilities - Policy

Draft or revise safety policy

Safety Policy 16SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Author policy communication plan

Develop minimum safety standards for program

Review with Legal, Risk, and Ops

Review Airport Rules and Regulations and make recommendations for SMS language and modifications

Review Airport Lease agreements and make recommendations for SMS language and modifications

Shepherd policy through organization

Gain management commitment and sign off

Develop a process to communicate policies and objectives throughout the organization

Communicate and distribute policy internally and externally

Review policy annually for revisions or updates

Core Responsibilities - Risk

Define the airport risk management program and its integration into the airport SMS.

Develop safety risk management (SRM) processes (for operational risk)

Develop safety cases

Participate in SRMD reviews and participate on panels as needed

Develop hazard collection and risk review program

Develop risk matrix and criteria for severity and probability

Develop and deploy hierarchies of control

Develop and deploy hazard categories

Develop risk tolerance criteria

Develop corrective action program and documentation/monitoring processes

Create guidance on the use of SRM and data and trend analysis

Define a process for documenting the results of SRM, including a description of how documents will be stored, i.e., electronic or paper.

Define how top management will follow up on SRM to ensure safety mitigation strategies are appropriate.

Core Responsibilities - Assurance

Develop QA/QC Program

Align Assurance program with Part 139 operations (if FAA Rule requires )

Align assurance program with minimum standards

Develop, oversee, and participate in Audit program (QA)

Develop, oversee, and participate in ramp/bagwell inspection program (QC)

Develop and oversee FOD program (see FOD documentation) internal and external (tenants)

Create a process to document and review lessons learned from within the organization.

Develop a plan to integrate apron safety management into the airport SMS program

Create a detailed method to document self-auditing processes and their findings.

Create a detailed method to document self-inspection reviews, analysis, and findings.

Safety Policy 17SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities - Promotion

Communicate policy/program to staff and tenants

Develop and provide oversight to promotional safety program including logo, prizes, posters, etc.

Develop documentation and communication plans for traini ng and education, safety communication, competency, and continuous improvement

Develop a plan for employee SMS indoctrination and training including an outline of proposed curriculum and

resources

Design, develop, and provide oversight of the tenant orientation program

Promote safety awareness through workshops, events , discussions, on-site presence, and management

commitment

Develop a plan to validate training effectiveness and the process to gain training feedback including useable metrics

Design procedures to promote safety awareness and participation in non-puni tive (just culture) reporting systems



### 4.1.2 SMS Specialist

Core Responsibilities - Operations - Program Support

Support SMS Manager in meetings, collect and manage documentation,

Route hazard reports to appropriate department

Serve as point of contact for information and documentation requests

Communicate information to relevant departments

Manage data base and data flows

Support business processes

Assist in report development and deployment

Coordinate Maintenance response

Coordinate Airport Du ty Manager response

Coordinate Airport Operations Specialist response

Core Responsibilities - Implementation – Project Support

Assist with implementation coordination and logistics

Assist with software requirements definition and data flow process documentation

Core Responsibilities - Policy

Assist with communication and deliver y of policy to staff and tenants

Serve as point of contact for question routing

Assist with updates to policy and routing policy changes through proper internal channels

Make corrections or changes to policy from SMS Manager

Core Responsibilities - Risk

Collect hazards and enter into “system” eith er electronic or paper based data entry

Safety Policy 18SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Manage day-to-day status of hazards , risks, and corrective actions

Route questions and concerns to SMS Manager

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Core Responsibilities - Assurance

Collect inspection reports and enter into “system ” either electronic or paper based data entry

Assist with providing proper forms and information to internal and external staff

Serve as document manager for inspection forms

Compile QA information for reporting and dashboard feeds

Core Responsibilities - Promotion

Serve as first contact for promotion questions and answers

Deliver media (posters etc.) to tenants and staff

Route questions and concerns to SMS Manager



## 4.2 SMS Personnel Collateral Duties

4.2.1 Accountable Executive

Collateral Responsibilities

Serve as ultimate responsible entity in the organization for the SMS Program

Responsible for establishing and maintaining the SMS program

Sign off on budgets, staff, and program goals and objectives

Serve as ultimate respon sible entity for identified hazards, risks, and corrective action decisions

Serve as public outreach contact for media, regulatory, and public concerns

Meet with SMS Manager for escalation issues and resolutions

Sign off, approve, endorse, and promote the SMS Policy

Review dashboard or score card results on a quarterly basis

Report to CEO on SMS program results and concerns

Serve as ultimate role responsible for providing a safe and healthy environment to staff and tenants

Endorse all personnel to think and work safely at all times, regardless of any real or perceived pressures to do

otherwise

Be knowledgeable of how the SMS program works, who the key SMS personnel are, and what significant safety issues exist in the organization.



### 4.2.2 Airport Duty Manager

Collateral Responsibilities

Conduct accident and incident investigations, collect information, provide documentation, and serve as subject matter expert

Assign staff for FOD program (see FOD documentat ion for detailed roles and responsibilities)

Safety Policy 19SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Assist in hazard and risk assessments

Serve as point of contact for hazard reporting from tenants

Attend Safety Action Meet ings as needed for information on hazards and risks

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Participate in oversight of ramp and bag room inspections and associated findings for appropriate routing



### 4.2.3 Airport Operations Specialist

Collateral Responsibilities

Conduct ramp and bag room inspections

Report on findings

Participate as needed in review of hazards and risks based on inspections

Serve as airfield safety eyes and ears for tenants and staff



### 4.2.4 Maintenance Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Participate in hazard and risk assessments

Assign appropriate staff for hazard and risk assessments

Serve as liaison for FOD (see FOD documentation) and other safety program initiatives

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed



### 4.2.5 Maintenance Lead

Collateral Responsibilities

Assign staff to hazard mitigation projects

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Provide maintenance expertise to hazard mitigation strategies



### 4.2.6 Communications & Dispatch Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Collect information on hazards and document in “system” either paper based or electronic solution

Dispatch maintenance response

Dispatch Airport Duty Manager response

Dispatch Airport Operations Specialist response

Participate on strategy and planning sessions for SMS implementation

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed



### 4.2.7 Tenants

Collateral Responsibilities

Report hazards

Safety Policy 20SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Collaborate with other airline and GSE representatives and POS operations and maintenance staff

Participate in Safety Action Meeting as needed

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Serve as point of contact for FOD program

Participate in FOD Subcommittee

Serve as point of contact for ramp safety inspections



### 4.2.8 Health & Safety Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Participate in Safety Action Meeting as needed

Serve as point of contact for Health & Safety and OSHA issues

Manage and report on bag room safety issues



### 4.2.9 Port Construction Services Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Participate in Safety Action Meeting as needed

Provide briefings on construction activities that impact airfield and terminal operations

Serve as a safety inspection resource if needed and for best practice exchange



### 4.2.10 Risk Management Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Participate in Safety Action Meeting as needed

Provide information on claims

Provide guidance on risk policies/progra ms at airport and port facilities



### 4.2.11 Environmental Liaison

Collateral Responsibilities

Participate in Airside Safety Risk Mana gement Subcommittee Meeting as needed

Participate in Safety Action Meeting as needed

Provide project information for compactors, garbage, etc. as it relates to ramp operations or FOD issues.

Advise on any environmental issues that relate to the ramp or bag room

Safety Policy 21SMS Roles and Responsibilities

Safety Policy 22 

## 3.0 Integrated Duties – Hazard Example

To reflect the interoperability and collaboration required for SMS to function at Sea-Tac, the diagram on the following page demonstrates the steps required to identify a hazard and mitigate the safety risk. Nine roles are represented in the illustration; the processes will require coordination and communication to ensure safety risk management efforts are not bogged down in procedural delays. The roles include core SMS duties, collateral duties, committee duties, and stakeholders; all of which support the SMS through

collaboration and communication.

As represented in the diagram and consis tent with Sea-Tac’s philosophy on SMS collaboration, anyone who is part of the airport or tenant community can report a hazard. This reporting will allow for hazards to be input through a variety of professional and technical operations. The routing of the hazard can take various paths depending on urgency and prioritization. Airport Duty M anagers (ADMs) play an important role in responding to and resolving hazards and because of this, the ADM bears a responsibility to document and report information to the Sa fety Manager/Safety Specialist consistently and accurately. As needed, subject matter experts are brought in to assist with assessing hazards and their associated risk (see the Guide to Safety Risk Management for more information). As a hazard is further defined, the airport and tenant community has an opportunity to jointly agree to corrective actions and to risk acceptance.

This sample flow diagram serves to emphasize the importance of roles and responsibilities throughout the safety comm unity to effectively manage hazards, risks,

and resolutions.SMS Roles and ResponsibilitiesFigure 2 – Interoperability Example - Hazard Flow by SMS RoleSafety Policy23SMS Roles and Responsibilities



## 4.0 Summary of Findings

As mentioned early in this document, staffing strategies are critical to the successful implementation of a SMS. New staff and their associated skills must be carefully assessed to ensure both technical proficiencies and personal “fit” into the organization. The role of Safety Manager can either make or break the program; the Safety Manager serves as the ambassador, the leader who not only manages day-to-day activities but gains Accountable Executive support, and develops long-term strategies to ensure the program is successful.

Equally important to achieving a robust SMS program is the ability to clearly define roles and responsibilities for all staff and tenants who have a stake in the program. Core and collateral duties must be agreed to by personnel prior to launching the SMS. The SMS team extends widely and broadly throughout the airport organization and requires planning and structure to leverage its effectiveness.

Safety Policy 24