Where Birds Don't Fly

A safety management system (SMS) for airport and airlines is defined as a documented process for managing risks that integrates operations and technical systems with the management of financial and human resources. A quality assurance program is an integrated part of a safety management system.  An integrated part to a safety management system is when different systems, subsystems, or components work together seamlessly to perform specific tasks or functions. Integration involves combining software, hardware, environment, liveware (SHELL model), and various technologies to create a cohesive and efficient system.  Integration is a crucial components of a quality assurance program when performing root cause analyses and system analyses of special cause variations.  A root cause analysis is founded on answer provided by asking What question, When question, Where question, Why question, Who question (group, or position as opposed to an individual), and How question. These que...

  A Safety Management System (SMS) in safety critical industries such as airport or airline operations, is a tool to communicate with hazards. Communicating with hazards is the new way to operate a successful SMS. The first day of the SMS implementation phase, SMS managers and senior management became busy chasing Quality Control and improving safety by their reactive processes. After the SMS was fully implemented, they continued to apply reactive processes but missed an opportunity to use their Quality Assurance program. COMMUNICATE WITH HAZARDS Effective communication with hazards is the structured methods and strategies SMS enterprises use to identify, assess, understand, and respond to risks that may threaten people, operations, assets, or the environment. While communication with hazards may sound abstract, it fundamentally involves establishing a two-way flow of information between an SMS enterprise and the dynamic risks it faces. This communication enables proactive mana...