Who is best placed to answer this question? In fact, the starting point should be, "What do we want our SMS to do for us?",

We often talk about the management of change, and here we do not need to look any further than the implementation of an SMS as our first challenge.

As either a perfect opportunity to develop and optimize the organisation or alternatively, as an organizational burden that requires specific actions to ensure compliance.

So in reality this question should be answered by the Accountable Manager and the Management Team. In fact, once we answer the question, then other decisions become easier, and we can start to develop the structure of the SMS.

Please note it is a significant step backwards to jump into SMS implementation without really appreciating what your real goals are. So assume we have decided that we see the SMS as a real business opportunity to develop and optimize the organization.What should we do next?

Well, to decide on the structure that is required to support the SMS—manpower, documented procedures, and training & communication processes—all become fundamental elements of a successful SMS.

Developing a real SMS depends on the organisation being able to instill a positive safety culture throughout the organisation. This should be treated as a specific project to:

a) Understand the current position (which means really understanding the current safety culture attitude and behaviour)
b) Developing an action plan to bring people on board to the company vision in a real way and remember it takes a long time to build a positive relationship and only the blink of an eye to impact it in a negative way so we have got to live by "our" SMS from the top down and it has to be visible
c) Working on the Hazard Identification Reporting Systems, Risk Analysis processes and Mitigation Proposals so that it becomes a genuine pillar of support for the business
d) Developing effective training processes which underpin the positive safety culture as well as positive feedback and communication processes

Remember, one of the biggest challenges is that people genuinely do not know what is a hazard that they are expected to report, and here we have one of the biggest gaps: Has your organisation shared with you what they expect you to report? If we can get this part correct, we can start to see a real success story developing.

Sofema Aviation Services (www.sassofia.com) and our sister company SofemaOnline (www.sofemaonline.com) provide classroom and online training for regulatory and vocational training fully compliant with EASA requirements. For more information, please email team@sassofia.com