TRANSPORTATION & TECHNOLOGY

Safety Begins at the Top

Relevant to the safety culture at any business is an attitude of ongoing excellence and awareness. The safest companies globally have a safety culture that starts at the very top and integrates through the organization.

The following are the key characteristics of safety-focused organizations:

• receive support from leadership and management for their safety efforts
• employees across levels are involved in the safety process
• innovative solutions to safety challenges are adopted for design, process and practice
• injury and illness rates are lower than their respective industry average
• conduct comprehensive training programs
• provide quality and adequate communication about the value of safety

Over the decades, the aviation industry has developed regulations, standard operating procedures, licenses and certifications, and training programs that improve communication and teamwork in high-stress scenarios. The aviation industry has also addressed its high risk by fostering a culture of learning from errors, asking for help, and listening to feedback.

A Safety Management System (SMS) is a comprehensive set of policies, processes, procedures and systems that are used to identify and eliminate or mitigate safety hazards and risks. In the aviation industry, it means that every activity we engage in is deliberately designed in a way that eliminates or reduces the potential for errors or accidents.

An SMS includes processes to monitor, investigate and learn from every safety-related incident or issue so that more significant safety issues are dealt with proactively before they occur.

An SMS focuses on both a rigorous safety process as well as promoting a safety culture and excellence in communication.