At the end of the Seventies, airlines had a formula for safety. It didn't work very well, but they had one.
Having studied and written about global airline safety performance for 30 years, I can tell you the evolution in safety thinking over that time has been pretty radical.
(We'll talk about what's going on in the picture in just a moment)
Right now the industry is taking tentative steps into safety management.
To understand why a tailor-made SMS is a good idea, take a look at where safety thinking used to be.
The Seventies "safety equation" would look something like this: where...
safety performance = σ,
compliance with regulations = ρ,
and ordering pilots not to screw up on pain of being fired = π
σ = ρ + π
Simple. Only it often didn't work.
You only have to look at the accident stats to see the difference. Globally airlines are now six times safer than they were in 1979 in terms of fatal accidents per million flights. Okay, aircraft are better now, but there's more to it than that.
In those days we'd study accidents in fine detail, put the carefully assembled paperwork in a filing cabinet, and the lessons from the accidents lived on in the practical sense only until the safety manager who remembered the report left, retired, or died.
Today we have digital databases that store data retrievably forever and reveal trends in real time. Data is the key. If the Board won't listen to anything else, they know they ignore data at their peril.
Today we have digital databases that store data retrievably forever and reveal trends in real time. Data is the key. If the Board won't listen to anything else, they know they ignore data at their peril.
Now let's move to last week's Baines Simmons Innovation in Aviation Safety Management Awards, presented to those who have used safety management to make a difference in both operational and business terms.
The picture you saw at the top was me opening the envelope to see who'd impressed the independent judging panel. This is what I read out:
Highly Commended: RAF Brize Norton Safety Team: "for demonstrating practical application of
dynamic risk assessment"
RAF Brize Norton team: (from left) Wg Cdr Claire Muir; Station Flight Safety Officer Bruce Castle; Flt Lt Chris Gray
(I'm on the right)
Highly Commended: Titan Airways: "for an innovative and intellectual approach to
measuring and driving cultural change and risk awareness
Pavan Johal Safety Manager, Titan Airways
And the winner is: Jazz Aviation: "The Jazz entry stood out for its evidence of integrating SMS across aviation safety, quality, health and safety and business"
David Deveau, v-p Safety, Quality and the Environment, Jazz Aviation (Toronto)
And this was the Finalists' line-up, including the winners you'll recognise from above:
On the left is Ronnie Smith, chair of the judging panel for the
Innovation in Aviation Safety Management Awards and a SMS lead Consultant at
Baines Simmons, who said: "The four additional finalists that also
impressed us were easyJet, represented by Dave Prior, Director
of Safety and Security and the Operations Risk Department; Manchester Airports
Group; Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and the UK CAA represented by Giles Porter, Head of the Flight Operations Inspectorate."
Ronnie added: "We are delighted to have witnessed the enthusiasm in the industry prompted by this award. We believe it is important that we share accomplishments, celebrate success and give recognition to those organisations leading the field in aviation safety management."
Sex?
If I'd led with Safety Management you wouldn't have got this far
on May 20, 2012 12:15 PM | Reply
Sex ?,clearly you forgot the RAF’s forerunner, the RFC’s late great Lord Flasheart. He knew how to give your general transport equation-σ = ρ + π-a damn good high draw licking, pi or hairy pi. He could teach those Brize boys and girls a thing or 69. Indeed that numerical inversion is very apt when contrasting the 1979 with 2012. Then sex was safe and flying was dangerous. Now flying is only 6 times safer ?, with that alpha floor to start from, I think that number will soon be turned on its head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=644Ar2ZEp4A
on May 20, 2012 10:32 PM | Reply
These awards are really fantastic, and through them we may continue to improve our collective knowledge and application of safety management principles. Is the award competition an annual event?
Congratulations to the winners and finalists!