Safety Management System 1 SMS-1 Jeffrey D Carpenter, CSP Columbia Southern University The International Air Transport Association defines a Safety Management System (SMS) as being a systematic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures. Another definition of an SMS is a businesslike approach to safety. It is a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process for managing safety risks. As with all management systems, a safety management system provides for goal setting, planning, and measuring performance. 1 SMS-2 2 This is a risk based approach to the safety management throughout the organization Safety Management System Definitions of a Safety management system An SMS provides a systematic way to identify hazards and control risks while maintaining assurance that these risk controls are effective. Setting up your safety management system You can read our setting up your SMS and our SMS for aviation guide which is a resource kit that will help you prepare and implement your plan. It'll need to include a detailed guide about how you're going to set up your SMS. Your safety management system will grow and improve and will be a living document. How do I educate my staff? You and your staff will need safety management system training and to review online resources. It can be useful to collect documents and resources for an SMS library within your organization. 2 SMS-3 3 Safety Management System A Safety Management System is not: Rocket Science Magic Safety Management System An SMS is not “rocket science” or “magic.” There are three imperatives for adopting a safety management system for a business – these are ethical, legal and financial. You can also educate your staff through internal and external safety training and communication. This could include providing SMS information in your organization's safety bulletins, newsletters and or through promotional posters or by holding meetings and workshops with external providers. 3 SMS-4 4 KISS method of a SMS Four key elements: Safety Assurance Safety Policy Risk Management Safety Promotion KISS METHODS FOR SMS To be effective an SMS needs the following four key elements: Safety Policy Risk Management Safety Assurance Safety Promotion 4 SMS-5 5 The Four SMS Components Safety Assurance Involves the evaluation of the continued implementations and effectiveness of the risk control procedures which supports both existing and future hazards. Safety Policy This is established by the senior management to help in improving the safety standards, while defining methods, organizations and the structure required in delivering the safety standards and goals. Safety Promotion Safety promotions include the activities such as safety, building a positive culture and having the designated areas which are used in safety education. Safety Risk Management Determines the need for and .

1. Safety Management System
1
SMS-1
Jeffrey D Carpenter, CSP
Columbia Southern University
The International Air Transport Association defines a Safety
Management System (SMS) as being a systematic approach to
managing safety, including the necessary organizational
structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures.
Another definition of an SMS is a businesslike approach to
safety. It is a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process
for managing safety risks. As with all management systems, a
safety management system provides for goal setting, planning,
and measuring performance.
1
SMS-2
2
This is a risk based approach to the safety management
throughout the organization
Safety Management System
Definitions of a Safety management system
An SMS provides a systematic way to identify hazards and

2. control risks while maintaining assurance that these risk
controls are effective.
Setting up your safety management system
You can read our setting up your SMS and our SMS for aviation
guide which is a resource kit that will help you prepare and
implement your plan. It'll need to include a detailed guide about
how you're going to set up your SMS. Your safety management
system will grow and improve and will be a living document.
How do I educate my staff?
You and your staff will need safety management system training
and to review online resources. It can be useful to collect
documents and resources for an SMS library within your
organization.
2
SMS-3
3
Safety Management System
A Safety Management System is not:
Rocket Science
Magic
Safety Management System
An SMS is not “rocket science” or “magic.”
There are three imperatives for adopting a safety management
system for a business – these are ethical, legal and financial.
You can also educate your staff through internal and external
safety training and communication. This could include
providing SMS information in your organization's safety
bulletins, newsletters and or through promotional posters or by

3. holding meetings and workshops with external providers.
3
SMS-4
4
KISS method of a SMS
Four key elements:
Safety Assurance
Safety Policy
Risk Management
Safety Promotion
KISS METHODS FOR SMS
To be effective an SMS needs the following four key elements:
Safety Policy
Risk Management
Safety Assurance
Safety Promotion
4
SMS-5
5
The Four SMS Components
Safety Assurance
Involves the evaluation of the continued implementations and
effectiveness of the risk control procedures which supports both
existing and future hazards.

4. Safety Policy
This is established by the senior management to help in
improving the safety standards, while defining methods,
organizations and the structure required in delivering the safety
standards and goals.
Safety Promotion
Safety promotions include the activities such as safety,
building a positive culture and having the designated areas
which are used in safety education.
Safety Risk
Management
Determines the
need for and
adequacy of, new or
revised risk controls based on the assessment of acceptable risk
(Rowlinson, 2004).
Safety Promotion
Policy

5. SRM
SA
Implementations of SMS
To have a successful SMS each of the four key elements needs
to be given the same “weight” when developing the system.
Safety Management Systems (SMSs) for product/service
providers (certificate holders) and regulators will integrate
modern safety risk management and safety assurance concepts
into repeatable, proactive systems.
5
SMS-6
6
Safety Policy
While developing a safety policy. The language used should be
very precise and not ambiguous.
The safety policy must have the following key elements:
All jobs should be done very safely or at least not done at all if
cannot be done safely. There is time to do things In the right
way.
Another approach to be considered is work-stop authority
(Safety management systems, 2005).
SAMPLE SAFETY POLICY
The first element of an SMS is the actual safety policy.
To ensure the policy is adequate and applicable to the
organization the following should be given thought:
Use clear unambiguous language
Incorporate two key principles
1. Do it safely or not at all
2. There is always time to do it right
Consider work-stop authority

6. 6
SMS-7
7
Risk Management
Risk Management is:
It is the risk managers Job to recognize the risky situations
(Waring, 2002)
All the risky situations should be evaluated and studied to
assess the likelihood of the risk and if it occurs the impact of
the risk (Safety, 2085).
All mitigations should be well defined and where they should be
applied.
RISK MANAGEMENT
The second element of a good SMS is Risk Management
consists of:
Recognizing a dangerous situation or condition
Looking at a situation and trying to see how it could fail
SMSs emphasize safety management as a fundamental business
process to be considered in the same manner as other aspects of
business management.
By recognizing the organization's role in accident prevention,
SMSs provide to both certificate holders and FAA:
A structured means of safety risk management decision making
A means of demonstrating safety management capability before
system failures occur
Increased confidence in risk controls though structured safety
assurance processes

7. An effective interface for knowledge sharing between regulator
and certificate holder
A safety promotion framework to support a sound safety culture
7
SMS-8
8
Risk Management
Risk Management is:
All jobs and tasks should be analyzed, inspected and prioritized
with several issues developing the corrective and other action
plans
One of the best methods is using the risk matrix.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Risk management is also:
Analyzing job tasks, records, inspections, prioritizing issues
and developing corrective action plans
Consider using a risk matrix
8
SMS-9
9
Risk Management
For every department, there is a particular staff that is available
for risk management.
RISK MANAGEMENT

8. As part of the Risk Management element of an SMS
consideration should be given to assigning responsibilities to
certain staff members for managing risk within their
department.
9
SMS-10
10
Safety Assurance
The company should be consistent in observing all aspects of
the operations. There is a lot that can be observed by the
management just by sitting and watching.
All data should be analyzed to check if the work is getting
better or worse.
This can be done by looking at how things went wrong
previously, the injuries.
All near misses should be well documented.
In auditing the processes, you have to check the processes
which do not have a desirable outcome and then questions
should be asked about the process.
SAFETY ASSURANCE
The next element of an SMS is Safety Assurance.
As part of this element:
Constantly observe every aspect of your operations
“You can observe a lot by just watching”
Analyze your data. Are things getting better or worse?
Look as past claims, incidents, injuries
Record near misses
Look for processes that do not have the desired outcome, then
ask what and why

9. 10
SMS-11
11
Safety Promotion
Managers and supervisors should talk about the safety
promotion.
Make safety part of daily conversations
Get everyone on board when discussing the organizational
commitment on safety.
The organization's commitment to safety should be known.
Safety should be made part of the business culture, it should be
one way of doing business. Make it part of your culture, make it
the way you do business
SAFETY PROMOTIONS
The final element of the SMS is Safety Promotion.
As part of this element:
Managers and supervisors should talk it up!
Make safety part of daily conversations
Get people on board by making your organization’s commitment
to safety known
Make it part of your culture, make it the way you do business
11
SMS-12
12
The Reality
The implementation of SMS cannot be done without efforts
from the staff and the management.
The results of the implementation cannot be effortless and will

10. require the same level of commitments as other areas of the
company (Depue, 2003).
The risk manager should be patient with the people
implementing safety measures
The positive changes are worth the patience and effort
IMPLEMENTING SMS
The element is very important because it allows employees to
understand that safety is a priority within the organization.
Safety Promotion supports safety
culture communication, dissemination of lessons learned and
enables the continuous improvement process.
The Safety Promotion requirements apply not only to aviation
service provider organizations but also to States. In fact safety
promotion is identified as one of the four components of
the State Safety Programs.
The safety promotion process should be applied at national,
regional and global level and includes all efforts to modify
structures, environment, attitudes and behaviors aimed at
improving safety.
12
SMS-13
13
The Reality
Annex 19 Safety Guidelines
EXAMPLE OF SAFETY APPLICATION
The training is expected to make the users be exposed to risks.
B) It defines the operations and maintenance standards of

11. private jets and commercial air transport (Curley, 2016);
All the safety measures involves the operation of Helicopters
and the general Aviation;
The design of the safety is meant to regulate the engines,
propellers and the aircraft itself.
The navigation services are included in the safety codes
During the ICAO High-level Safety Conference 2010, the
development of an Annex dedicated to Safety Management was
proposed. The benefits identified of this approach included:
Address safety risks proactively;
Manage and support strategic regulatory and infrastructure
developments;
Re-enforce the role played by the State in managing safety at
the State level, in coordination with service providers;
Stress the concept of overall safety performance in all domains.
13
SMS-13
14
The Reality
Advantages of Annex
EXAMPLE OF SAFETY APPLICATION
Promoting the State at all levels which includes the correct
coordination between all stakeholders.
Developing a harmonised standards of application to several
domains of safety
Identifications of the future needs
Having a dedicated working panel on the next iterations of the
members
Providing global vision and implementations (Cox & Cox,

12. 1996)
Summary of Annex 19
The new First Edition of the new Annex becomes applicable on
14 November 2013. All of the safety management provisions in
Annex 19 except those listed below have been transferred or
duplicated from safety management provisions previously
contained in six other Annexes. The new provisions are as
follows:
The Safety Management System framework now applies to
organizations responsible for the type design and manufacture
of aircraft
The four existing components of the State Safety Program
(SSP) framework are raised to the status of Standards
The State Safety Oversight System is now applicable to the
oversight of all product and service providers
Safety Data Collection Analysis and Exchange becomes part of
the SSP
The new Annex also replicates Attachment ‘E’ to Annex 14
“Legal Guidance for the Protection of Safety Information from
Safety Data” as Attachment ‘B’
14
References
Cox, S., & Cox, T. (2006). Safety, systems, and people. Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Depue, L. (2003). Safety management systems. Washington,
D.C.: Transportation Research Board, National Research
Council.
Pet Supplies, Accessories and Products Online | PetSmart.
(2018). Retrieved from https://www.petsmart.com/
Rowlinson, S. (2004). Construction safety management systems.
London: Spon Press.

13. Safety, C. (2085). Guidelines for Auditing Process Safety
Management Systems. Hoboken: American Institute of Chemical
Engineers.
Waring, A. (2002). Safety management systems. London:
Chapman & Hall.
PPT-135-01
15
Hazard Identification and Risk-Analysis Activity
Directions: In Phase II of your SMS implementation process,
you will be moving into the DO phase of
implementation. Using the information covered in this unit
lesson, you will be performing an analysis to
identify hazards and assess the level of risk associated with the
hazards in your workplace. If you are not
currently employed, you may use a former employer, or you
may simply select an industry of choice. Your
assessment must include the following information:
y each hazard falls into (e.g.,
physical, safety, etc.),

14. exposure to each hazard (i.e., what can
happen),
will occur as a result of exposure to the
hazard,
illness, and
etc.).
Your assessment should be presented in a table similar as the
table shown below:
Hazard Category of
Hazard
Consequence Likelihood of
Incident
Severity of
Incident
Level of Risk

15. Risk Assessment Table
(adapted from Australian/New Zealand Standard 4360: 1995 –
Risk Management)
Severity of Injury/Illness
Insignificant
(No injuries)
Minor
(First Aid Only)
Moderate
(Medical
Treatment)
Major
(Extensive
Injuries)
Catastrophic
(Fatalities,
Amputations)

16. Likelihood of
Injury/Illness
Very Likely Significant Significant High High High
Likely Moderate Significant Significant High High
Moderate Low Moderate Significant High High
Unlikely Low Low Moderate Significant High
Highly Unlikely Low Low Moderate Significant Significant