SMS Is The New Business Model
Safety in airline and airport operations is paramount, with or without a regulatory Safety Management System. However, SMS as a business approach to safety is the New Business Model to embrace. Without embracing SMS as a systematic approach to safety, an Enterprise is on a path to total system failure.
One of the purposes of an SMS is to improve safety performance, and therefore reduce the exposure to risk of having an accident. SMS is not to focus on the safety record per se. There are many aviation companies that have extremely good safety records but are operating with risky behavior or inadequate organizational structures and have just not had an accident yet. A good safety record, just like a good quality record, does not guarantee safety. This does not imply that any aviation operator will experience a fatal accident at some point in the future, but it is simple statement that a good safety record does not guarantee future safety. This is how SMS so beautifully plays a role as the New Business Model. Embrace it to take the pressure of the AE.
It is my personal experience that many leaders in the aviation industry feel stressed and worried by thinking that an accident will happen. It could be that they have experienced one or more near misses, or fatal accidents in the past, or it could be that they are concerned about their own incomplete operational processes. A pilot could be concerned with maintenance, the maintenance could be concerned with pilots and everyone are concerned that nobody does their job correctly. Operating under these conditions is a recipe for an accident to happen. However, when embracing SMS as the New Business Model, the fear of failure is placed on the organizational itself and its defined operational processes.
A scenario of how the fear of failure is removed is when a student pilot has been trained to do a complete walkaround before each flight. As the student has mastered this process, they are expected to conduct the same walkaround without supervision. This does not imply that they are left on their own, but the instructor is monitoring the process from a distance and over time learns that the student is following the process as expected. After conducting a risk assessment, the risk is acceptable to send the student out for a flight without direct supervision or monitoring. This process, as applied to one segment of a flight, can be applied to all other segments of the flight. The fear of failure of this student is now removed from managers, since they have accepted their own training program and assessed the risk as acceptable.
Some might say that there is still a need to be worrying while the student is flying, because they could still take short-cuts and skipping steps in the walkaround. If this is still a concern to management, then they must assess the effectiveness of their approach to training and their risk assessment process.
The New Business Model of a Safety Management System, or leadership in Quality Assurance is the overarching tool in decision making and therefore becomes the only profit generator in an organization.
Return on Investment of SMS is more than incident cost savings. SMS ROI is also the return of cash revenue generated by in-control processes, quality assurance oversight and safety-based investment decisions. SMS as the New Business Model is replacing the old and obsolete proactive business model where safety was attributed to indefinable incidents and accidents.
SMS Leadership Qualities is more than reviewing hazard reports or analyzing incident reports for continuous safety improvements. For an SMS to conform to regulatory requirements the qualities of a leader are to design processes that makes operations conform to performance regulations. On the other side, SMS Leadership Qualities in airline and airport operations is to be the best motivational speaker in the organization for personnel to accept a businesslike approach to safety and embrace SMS. A motivational speaker is someone who organizes facts, establishes links, develop content, communicate reasons and present speeches to inspire and motivate personnel to embrace SMS as the new business model.
SMS as the new business model is the cultural change everyone is talking about, but few have truly accepted. It is a challenging task for all personnel to transition into the NextGen of aviation SMS when airlines and airports were safe yesterday without an SMS. SMS is therefore not to focus on safety records. SMS is the AE a motivational speaker for everyone to establish their SMART goals; S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Achievable, R=Relevant, T=Time-bound. In this New Business Model, an Enterprise establishes and communicates goals and objectives, but more important, all personnel are allowed to establish their own job-performance goal to improve their performance level.
One of the purposes of an SMS is to improve safety performance, and therefore reduce the exposure to risk of having an accident. SMS is not to focus on the safety record per se. There are many aviation companies that have extremely good safety records but are operating with risky behavior or inadequate organizational structures and have just not had an accident yet. A good safety record, just like a good quality record, does not guarantee safety. This does not imply that any aviation operator will experience a fatal accident at some point in the future, but it is simple statement that a good safety record does not guarantee future safety. This is how SMS so beautifully plays a role as the New Business Model. Embrace it to take the pressure of the AE.
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Fear of failure is removed in a true SMS system. |
A scenario of how the fear of failure is removed is when a student pilot has been trained to do a complete walkaround before each flight. As the student has mastered this process, they are expected to conduct the same walkaround without supervision. This does not imply that they are left on their own, but the instructor is monitoring the process from a distance and over time learns that the student is following the process as expected. After conducting a risk assessment, the risk is acceptable to send the student out for a flight without direct supervision or monitoring. This process, as applied to one segment of a flight, can be applied to all other segments of the flight. The fear of failure of this student is now removed from managers, since they have accepted their own training program and assessed the risk as acceptable.
Some might say that there is still a need to be worrying while the student is flying, because they could still take short-cuts and skipping steps in the walkaround. If this is still a concern to management, then they must assess the effectiveness of their approach to training and their risk assessment process.
The New Business Model of a Safety Management System, or leadership in Quality Assurance is the overarching tool in decision making and therefore becomes the only profit generator in an organization.
Return on Investment of SMS is more than incident cost savings. SMS ROI is also the return of cash revenue generated by in-control processes, quality assurance oversight and safety-based investment decisions. SMS as the New Business Model is replacing the old and obsolete proactive business model where safety was attributed to indefinable incidents and accidents.
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When individuals are allowed to set their own goals, a light will come on. |
SMS as the new business model is the cultural change everyone is talking about, but few have truly accepted. It is a challenging task for all personnel to transition into the NextGen of aviation SMS when airlines and airports were safe yesterday without an SMS. SMS is therefore not to focus on safety records. SMS is the AE a motivational speaker for everyone to establish their SMART goals; S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Achievable, R=Relevant, T=Time-bound. In this New Business Model, an Enterprise establishes and communicates goals and objectives, but more important, all personnel are allowed to establish their own job-performance goal to improve their performance level.
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