In the FAA NPRM posting on 1/11/23, we get a glimpse into the agency’s simplified approach to airlines managing safety with a Safety Management System (SMS). The FAA’s Safety Management System (SMS) is composed of four (4) major components:
- safety policy,
- safety risk management,
- safety assurance, and
- safety promotion
The FAA offers some excellent explanations of these elements and their role in safety within a high-risk organization. If your organization is talking about implementing the SIF (Serious Injury Fatality) model, this can be a helpful read for you.
NOTE: I have made some grammatical changes to the FAA’s FR posting just to make this an easier read. But I have NOT changed anything in any substantial manner.
A safety management system (SMS) provides an organization-wide approach to identifying safety hazards, assessing and managing safety risks, and assuring the effectiveness of safety risk controls. An SMS provides a set of decision-making processes and procedures that can improve safety by assisting an organization in planning, organizing, directing, and controlling its aviation-related business activities.
Historically, the approach to aviation safety was based on the reactive analysis of past accidents and the introduction of corrective actions to prevent the recurrence of those events. An SMS, however, helps organizations to proactively identify potential hazards in the operating environment, analyze the risks of those hazards, and mitigate those risks to prevent an accident or incident.
