SMS…Some More Stuff to Do!

Happy New Year! With a new year come resolutions to do things differently. We vow to eat healthier, exercise more, learn something new and spend more time with family and friends. The reason less than 50% of New Year’s resolutions are ever kept is because it’s just more stuff for us to do. So it’s not surprising that we always find “get organized” on the “top 10” list of resolutions.

Resolutions apply in the workplace as well as in our personal lives. If this year a Safety Management System (SMS) is on your To Do list, don’t think about it as just more stuff to do. A well thought out and implemented SMS can help achieve significant gains in areas such as:

• Preventing injury and damage
• Solving problems (technical & people related)
• Enhancing teamwork and communication (CRM)
• Saving resources (money & assets)
• Engaging employees
• Delivering exceptional customer service

In fact, you’re probably well along in establishing a formal Safety Management System. After all, you probably already have an operations manual, SOPs, operational control policies, training objectives and aircraft maintenance procedures. Most flight departments are aware of personal safety in the work place, environmental concerns, the dangers of carrying hazardous materials, and security concerns both domestic and abroad. Through your training and your professional experience you are well prepared to recognize situations that would elevate risk on the job, e.g., fatigue, lousy weather or pressure from others. All of this is included in an SMS and you already have it covered!

With all of this well in hand, all you need to feel confident that you have an effective Safety Management System is “organization.” Ask yourself:

1. Are your operations manual, SOPs, maintenance manual and Emergency Response Plan thought of as separate documents, independent of each other, or are they tied together by a central plan to provide the best, most efficient and safest transportation possible to your owners and passengers?
2. Is that plan driven by your CEO so that it commands the high level of respect that it deserves from every member of the flight department?
3. How are you collecting and analyzing safety data? Do you have a process to identify hazards and mitigate those risks?

While most professionally managed flight departments already have the elements of a strong safety program in place, what they lack is a way to garner those skills in a way to assure a high level of safety. That can be achieved by measuring performance against predetermined objectives. Over time, what issues were faced by the flight department? How were decisions made? What were the outcomes? Are we continuing to make progress – in the confidence and satisfaction of our passengers as well as in efficiency of operations?

The Safety Reports, Risk Assessments, and other tools in the SMS toolbox are the means by which we can answer these questions. Taking only a few minutes a day to complete, they are contributions to the overall effectiveness of the flight department.

A Safety Management System should be unique to your specific operation/mission. Consider what makes the most sense for your organization and begin there.

Bottom line, SMS is not Some More Stuff to do. One New Year’s resolution worth keeping is getting onboard with SMS. The results and data will quickly identify opportunities to improve your operation’s performance and in many cases will support important changes based on data to make your life easier. If you have any questions or need some guidance, contact Baldwin at 843.342.5434 or Javascript must be enabled to see email addresses. for a free consultation.