Where Birds Don't Fly

A safety management system (SMS) is not about what to restrict, how to restrict, or what to eliminate from operations, but what can be added to operations for a successful business venture. SMS is an adaptable system which adapts to both written and unwritten processes. Adapting processes are also called drift or deviations. When a process adapts, the process might need to get back on track for compliance with the process text in the SMS manual, or the SMS manual text might need to get back on track for compliance with the practical application of the process. Rigid processes may not produce desired outcome and human behavior is to adapt to practical processes as viewed by frontline workers.  Adaptability is the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose. Adaptability is resilience, flexibility, versatility, and adjustability. Adaptability is not to waver, but it is to stay focused on the goal when special cause variations interrupts. Just as a lion keeps its eyes on the goal...

A safety management system (SMS) is a system which paints a true image of airports and airline operators and does not fail, but when an SMS is abused, it becomes a flawed system because it is painting a precise view of an SMS enterprise. A flawed SMS is a misjustice to the SMS, since all what an SMS does is to paint a picture of an SMS enterprise. A flawed SMS is a flawed SMS enterprise.  A simple tool to recognize a flawed SMS is to analyze the ratio of special cause variations to daily quality control processes. An SMS with perfectly aligned datapoints is a flawed SMS. Every data point measured show some degree of variation, no matter how much we try to control variations. It is impossible to attain identical results for two each task of a process. Each result is different, even if the difference is microscopical. A microscopical variation is invisible or indistinguishable without the use of a microscope, or detailed process analysis. Variation may be defined as a numerical value...