Where Birds Don't Fly

The person managing the operation of the SMS fulfils the required job functions and responsibilities to meet regulatory requirements. An effective Safety Management System is lead by a person who is technically qualified and understand the interaction of all systems. An airline and airport are to ensure that the person who occupy the position as SMS Manger is qualified to lead and manage for regulatory compliance. The regulations for an SMS manager is written with ambiguity, or written for being open to more than one interpretation. This is how a performance based regulation is written to allow for the application of size and complexity to conform to regulatory compliance in operation. Since there is no establish standards the enterprise must first establish their standards, or expectations and then the qualifications requirement for that position before the effective date of their SMS. Ambiguity is in the design. If the qualifications for an SMS manager is not established, or an unqua...

The last blog touched the value of safety and ROI on safety. There are several safety articles written about the return on investment of a Safety Management System with a return between 100 % and 600 %. All these ROIs are based on future predictions of a reduction in major accidents, operational incidents and hazards by applying the SMS tool. When applying an estimate of lack of future losses, the ROI does not represent the true value of safety, but a virtual value of safety. Virtual cash or virtual ROI is not an actual return based on facts or data, but an opinion and projection of a planned SMS. The value of safety is not the lack of accidents or incidents, but the total revenue generated by operations. SMS is a businesslike approach to safety and the value of safety should be applied in that manner. Process Applications Are Limited To Technical Capability. An investment in an airline or airport is the total cash invested in the operations. The return on this investment is based on s...