One of the most important aspects of an SMS program is the safety assurance function. The basics of SMS call for identifying all of the risks associated with your aviation operation. You then analyze these risks to determine what risks are acceptable and which risks are not acceptable.

1. ICAO SMS - Safety Assurance
By Brian Bowie
www.themanualmasters.com
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2. One of the most important aspects of an SMS program is the
safety assurance function. The basics of SMS call for identifying
all of the risks associated with your aviation operation. You
then analyze these risks to determine what risks are acceptable
and which risks are not acceptable. For any risks that are
unacceptable, procedures are developed to mitigate that risk to
an acceptable level of risk. If mitigation is not possible that
particular operation will not be allowed in the future due to the
high level of risk.

3. However just because the risk was identified, analyzed and
mitigated does not mean it was actually reduced to an
acceptable level. The safety assurance function of an SMS is
designed to ensure that your new procedures and processes for
mitigating risks are acceptable and actually working. Your
procedures may not keep your risk within an acceptable level
because of two main factors. The first reason is that they are
flawed in some way. Unfortunately no procedure is perfect and
any process or procedure will have its flaws and imperfections.
These flaws and imperfections can lead to a situation where the
procedure you just designed is not working as intended and the
risk was not mitigated.
The other reason that your risk may not be mitigated is because
of individuals disregarding the new procedure and policy by not
following it correctly. They also may not be doing it all. The
reasons they are not following the procedure could be one of
many. It may because they were not trained correctly and do
not know how to carry out the procedure correctly. It may also
be due to the fact that they do not understand the importance
of the new procedure and have decided it is not worth the
effort to actually follow the new procedure.

4. When either of these factors occurs, the outcome will be at a
higher level of risk than what was anticipated when the
procedure was originally developed. This increased level of risk
may become unacceptable. If a company only conducts safety
risk management and does not follow up with safety assurance,
this high level of risk would likely not be identified. An accident
or incident is likely in the future.

5. This is why the safety assurance function of an ICAO SMS is so
important. This process will allow you to identify if new
processes and procedures that are not working as designed
leading to an unacceptable level of risk. These hazards can be
identified and then corrected before they lead to an incident or
accident.

6. An ICAO SMS is basically a continuous decision making process
loop. You will identify risks. You will then develop procedures
to mitigate these risks. Once these procedures are in place you
will keep analyzing your operation to ensure that you are
maintaining your desired level of risk. If any procedures are not
working as planned or you identify new risks, they will be
analyzed and fixed using the safety risk management
procedures. Then the loop continues as these new procedures
are continually analyzed and then fixed as need.

7. Without safety assurance, your operations safety will be at
jeopardy due to the missing ingredient in the ICAO SMS loop. It
is not enough to just analyze your risk but you need to monitor
it as well.
Author Information
Brian Bowie has over 10 years of aviation management for both
FAR Part 121 and 135 airline operations. Check out his easy
solution for an SMS system that can be implemented in a cost
effective and efficient manner. Get started today and have your
SMS program within a week. Do not delay; get your SMS
manual at www.themanualmasters.com