It is accepted within our aviation community that the vast majority of aviation accidents (at least 80%) are directly caused by human action or more precisely by human error. However it would be wrong for us to assume that this is simply a manifestation of personal carelessness or even incompetence; rather, we should try to consider that the human error itself is actually the final element of a chain of events.

In fact, a major element that hitherto was not given sufficient consideration is the role of the organisation in aircraft incidents and accidents. Often the root cause or contributing factors are embedded within the organisations processes and procedures. Unfortunately, with hindsight, we are often able to understand the existence of numerous latent “exposures” (sometimes too late!).

If a major contributing factor to most unwelcome events then is to be found within the organisation, it should follow that it is the organisation itself that has the “power” to effect control of the exposure by removing or reducing the exposure (mitigation). It is this concept of raising organisational awareness to the point that the risk can be measured that forms the basis of the requirement for an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Safety Management System (SMS).

The existing “prescriptive” quality assurance process serves us well and ensures conformity with regulatory and organisation requirements. The downside is that it cannot easily anticipate or speculate regarding shortfalls or exposures that may occur in the future. But a “performance” driven Safety Assurance system can, in fact, anticipate or perceive exposures and then take the best action.

A Safety Management System (SMS) provides the organisation with an opportunity to integrate throughout the business a process that identifies hazards, assesses or measures the associated risk, and develops a recommendation for the appropriate mitigations. To be effective, key elements include the need for a positive safety culture together with effective marketing and promotion of the safety objectives.

The game changer that provides the SMS with the potential to make a real difference is the objective for the SMS to be proactive – which means that we are encouraged to find exposures before they cause harm to the individual or business.

The SMS should clearly define the safety policy of the organisation which should be promoted from the top down and should become a core value of the organisation.

The most effective SMS will become an integral part of the management system and will work within the framework of the organisation to support the exposure of risk across the business, whether it is in terms of people (our human capital) the equipment that the business operates, or the potential financial exposure in respect of poor decisions. Understanding risk provides the opportunity to develop a risk-reducing strategy or mitigation.

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