Tag Archives: Safety Management

Annex 19 – The Next Steps in Proactive Safety Management

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Annex 19 – The Next Steps in Proactive Safety Management

By Danielle Kelly

Sextant Readings Solutions - SMS ICAO Annex 19For the first time in 30 years, ICAO are set to release a new Annex – Annex 19 – that pulls together current safety management practices and future expectations for facilitating safety risks that exist in our lands and skies.

The Annex looks to promote and enhance the alignment between the state and service providers and operators, which in my opinion should be welcomed and can only be a positive thing. Sharing and learning from each other is good, it’s what we are taught as kids and is something we would do well to remember as adults. ICAO have provided us with Annex after Annex of standards and regulations depicting how things should be done in the industry, with lots of references to safety for operation of aircraft, air traffic services, aerodromes, and airworthiness. This new Annex brings together all of these different provisions to further embed safety oversight and systemic risk sharing, but shouldn’t we be doing this already anyway?

There is a lot of emphasis on the management of safety risks, focusing on what we don’t want to happen, and on the sharing of information. However, how worthwhile the sharing of information actually is depends on what is done with it. ICAO appear to be providing an answer to bridging the gap between simply being aware of other industry incidents and proactively managing and implementing further mitigation strategies to prevent the same thing from occurring on our own watch. But why has it taken a new Annex to be published for us to do this, shouldn’t this be something we should be doing as part of working practice? How do organizations learn and share?

It seems ICAO have produced this Annex to show that it is no longer acceptable just to Prevent, Detect and Respond; we need to be able to learn and share information, particularly as the demand for air travel increases. To that end, ICAO has offered greater support for the next generation of safety management systems. The co-ordination effort being established between State Safety Programs (SSP) and the SMS provides an opportunity to improve the performance of the existing SMS to meet state safety policies and objectives, state safety risk management, assurance and promotion.

Like I said before, we can no longer be seen just to be preventing, detecting and responding to occurrences. Learning isn’t just about reporting, understanding, implementing and then backtracking; it’s much more than that – learning is the sharing of knowledge and information, so let’s get more information about our controls instead of the outcomes.  How about we manage the precursor and build our resilience?

Now, it’s all very well saying this but how do we actually achieve it?

Well, we need to start somewhere…so how about our controls? Do we have confidence in our controls?  If not, why not? And what do we do about it to make sure we are confident in the controls in place?

Yes, States play a role to establish and prescribe a State Safety Program in order for us to achieve an acceptable level of safety. However, it is up to the service providers and operators who fundamentally need to demonstrate and actively manage risk and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies through their own Safety Management Systems.

So, where do we go with Annex 19?

Well, we have to make time to look at what we’ve got; we know an SMS will give us the means to do everything we need to do and to be able do them effectively in terms of manage hazards and associated risks, log incidents and occurrences to be able to report on performance. There will no doubt be policies and procedures with associated workflows that are required to be followed to ensure the investigation is appropriately dealt with.

With Annex 19, we need more than this. We need a platform to not only do all the things we need to do, but also all the things we want to do; such as anticipating and predicting, strengthening our position and giving us confidence in our controls. Because if we’re not doing that…well…in the eyes of Annex 19…are we doing it wrong?

How does your SMS measure up against the new Annex 19 recommendations?

Sextant Readings Presentation on SlideShare has been viewed over 1,750 times

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The Sextant Readings presentation – 8 Steps to an Efficient SMS – has been viewed over 1750 times on SlideShare.

Positioning the “8 steps to an efficient SMS” is intended to clarify some of the mis-information about Safety Management that is rife on the internet.  There is a lot of hype about SMS – usually focused on the particular strengths of a vendor’s offering.

However we view Safety Management in the context that safety is a direct result of  “A management system based on professionalism and safety principles” of an organization.  There are many ‘pieces’ of management system support in the offerings from so-called Safety Professionals.

At Sextant Readings we believe that supporting the management of an organization based on the principles of professionalism and safety is our business.  You can see the presentation here:


Ash Marron CEO Ideagen Gael Limited Presents to the CAAC Safety Conference

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Aviation safety management leaders Ideagen Gael Ltd has become the first Western company to present at the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s prestigious safety conference for carriers and airports.

Ash Marron CAAC Safety conference 2013

Chief Executive Officer, Ashley Marron, was a specially invited guest to the conference, which was held in Kunming, China, on Wednesday, October 9th, and delivered a successful presentation on aviation safety management, in particular the changes between regulators and their regulated organizations.

ash marron

I was honored to be asked to the event and found the two days hugely informative.

I came away with a clear understanding of the many challenges they face in regards to SMS implementation and I hope we can continue to use our experience to help and work with them on their journey.

Ashley Marron
Chief Executive Officer

Ideagen Gael was invited to the prestigious event following a series of successful projects with aviation regulators such as the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UKCAA) and Trafi, the Finnish transport agency.

During a 30 minute speaking slot, Mr. Marron addressed 75 delegates from across China before his presentation covered the subject of technology, and how it is helping to improve the relationship between regulators and their regulated organizations around the world.

Mr. Marron said: “I was honored to be asked to the event and found the two days hugely informative. I came away with a clear understanding of the many challenges they face in regards to SMS implementation and I am hopeful that we can continue to use our experience from other global implementations to help and work with them on their journey.”

The event, entitled ‘The 1st International congress on Implement; Sharing; communication of SMS’, provides aviation organizations from across China with a platform to discuss improvements in aviation safety.

Thomas Zhang, Ideagen Gael’s Aviation Business Development Manager in the region, added: “Despite there being language differences and cultural diversity during communication, I learned a lot from the event.

“Like the rest of the world, Chinese aviation organizations retain the same concept of quality, safety and risk management. Hence, this is best platform for us share and spread our values, successes and experiences.”

Ideagen Gael is a leader in aviation safety, with over 300 organizations globally benefiting from its safety management system, Q-Pulse.

Ideagen Gael’s project with the GCAA, the aviation regulatory body for the United Arab Emirates, saw them improve relationships with their 500+ organizations, driving improved audit practices and consistency. Meanwhile, other successful projects with the UKCAA and Trafi have resulted in improved risk management and regulatory accident and incident reporting.

ACSF RECOGNIZES CAE AND GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE AS SUSTAINING MEMBERS

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Alexandria, VA, June 6, 2013 — The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is pleased to recognize CAE and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation as sustaining members. Both companies have shown their commitment to the foundation’s vision of enhancing and improving safety through their generous financial support.

CAE is a global leader in modeling, simulation and training for civil aviation and defense. The company employs approximately 8,000 people at more than 100 sites and training locations in approximately 30 countries. CAE offers civil aviation, military and helicopter training services in more than 45 locations worldwide, and trains approximately 100,000 crew members yearly.

“I believe ACSF is one of the key drivers of safety and standards in the industry and want to support it and help shape where it is going,” said Rob Lewis, Vice President and General Manager for Business and Helicopter Aviation Training.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. The company employs more than 12,500 people at 12 major locations.

“Gulfstream is excited to partner with Air Charter Safety Foundation as a sustaining member to further the mission and vision of the foundation,” said Gulfstream Aviation Safety Officer Tom Huff . “As a business aircraft manufacturer and world-wide service provider, it made perfect sense to join-on as a sustaining member to further safety of air charter and fractional ownership flight operations.”

“The generous support of CAE and Gulfstream enables the foundation to carry out its mission,” said ACSF President Bryan Burns. “We are extremely pleased that these companies share our vision to achieve the highest levels of safety in the industry.”

For further information, go to www.acsf.aero.

Dassault to expand Little Rock completion centre

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By:   Dave Majumdar Washington DC

12:00 3 Jun 2013 Source:FLIGHT

Dassault is planning to expand its completion center in Little Rock, Arkansas, in anticipation of the company’s new Falcon SMS business jet, which will be unveiled later this year.

“Our next step in the Falcon family is an airplane – the code name is SMS – and that’s really why we needed to extend our presence here,” says John Rosanvallon, president and chief executive of Dassault‘s Falcon Jet division. “This brand new Falcon will be introduced at the next NBAA [National Business Aviation Association] convention in Las Vegas [Nevada] in October and we believe it will be the best Falcon yet.”

Over the next three years, Rosanvallon says Dassault will invest $60 million in new construction and the refurbishment of its existing facilities in Little Rock.

The construction will add 250,000 sq ft (23,225 sq m) to the factory’s 1 million sq ft of floor space. The project will also include refurbishments of the cabinet, upholstery and headliner shops and upgrades to older hangars.

Site preparation for the work will start in early 2014 and construction will be undertaken through the early part of 2016.

 

Sextant Readings Solutions – aviation professionals with a focus on Safety and Risk Management, Quality Management and Quality Assurance, and Compliance for the Aviation Industry.  Sextant Readings Solutions is an IS-BAO Support Services Affiliate, IS-BAO safety consultant, and Auditor.  Ideagen Gael Limited recognizes Sextant Readings Solutions as the authorized re-seller of Q-Pulse®, Ideagen Gael Risk® and MindGenius® for aviation for the Americas.

Audit Management Software for Aviation

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Audit Management Software for Aviation

Auditing throughout the aviation industry is a mandatory task to ensure that certificated organizations are performing to the strict regulations set out by the governing bodies. Audits are performed regularly throughout the aviation industry and contribute to complying with standards as well as identifying shortfalls and areas of improvement.

The Q-Pulse Audit Management module provides the ability to check a proposed audit plan for coverage, completeness and availability before finalizing schedules, automatically creating and updating the audit calendar. Past audit reports and historical data and status of all previous audit and CA/PA findings are available for review. Audit checklists can be created, exported and imported to and from external sources and audit packs can be created as points of reference.

A trail of departments visited, people spoken to, and processes checked etc, simplifies the creation of the audit report. Positive findings and opportunities for improvement are included, individual records created for each finding and the audit report agreed, formalized and tracked to conclusion through Q-Pulse.

Q-Pulse continually monitors the status of each audit action from when it is raised until closure and ensures the compliance management system is properly maintained, managed, and that actions are not overlooked. Q-Pulse can integrate with email systems to offer point-of-need access to audit records direct from automatic email notifications of upcoming or overdue events or actions.

Audit Management provides a closed loop system from scheduling, through planning, conducting and following up of audits in a manner that supports organization-wide improvement.

Offline Audit extends the Q-Pulse compliance management solution, enabling auditors to perform key activities when not connected to Q-Pulse. Auditors can complete checklists and record document findings while on-site at the point of need.

The objectives of Audit Management are to:

  • Provide a central repository for all audit management information that allows the demonstration of compliance with minimum overheads and disruption
  • Manage internal, external and third party audits across a specific or any number of compliance management systems
  • Identify potential improvements in systems, processes, equipment, material and people
  • Report both positive audit results as well as managing actions and findings  through to conclusion
  • Manage the complete audit life cycle from scheduling, planning and conducting to reporting and following up actions through to conclusion.
  • Manage Audits offline, providing the import and export of data to record and perform audits remotely

 

 

Corrective/Preventative Action Management

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Corrective/Preventative Action Management

Q-Pulse manages non-conformance through the CA/PA, (Corrective Action/Preventative Action) module, by automating established workflows and highlighting areas of improvement. Any type of aviation organization can identify, manage, control and correct areas of non-compliance in order to correct and pass any type of regulatory requirements.

Direct access to compliance actions from a central register streamlines the management of processes, reducing the effort spent managing activities and accelerating time to completion for actions. Role-based message management closes the loop on overdue processes by enabling the conditional escalation of actions to other roles where required, and the setup of different workflows based on record content.

Once collected in the CA/PA Management module, information can be viewed in isolation, either in groups of related information or across the complete organization. Robust security allocates access to information as you require it.

Any number of reports can be published and saved in personal or shared folders which significantly reduce the amount of time and effort spent searching for information. In addition, the Analysis module provides extensive graphical grouping and trend reports that greatly assist in spotting related issues and more importantly help identify opportunities for improvement.

The flexibility and capability of the CA/PA Management module ensures Q-Pulse is core in enabling an organization to reap significant benefits from their compliance efforts.

The objectives for CA/PA Management are to:

  • Automate the non-conformance process for the business within a single system
  • Extend the non-conformance process throughout a business with a centralized approach
  • Promote a systematic and holistic approach to non-conformance management
  • Notify and manage those responsible for non-conformances that in turn promote reduction in recurrence
  • Streamline non-conformance management to increase stakeholder satisfaction and improve the bottom line

Aviation Safety Data Sharing Integration with Q-Pulse

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ASIAS (Aviation Safety Information Sharing and Analysis System) supported by the FAA and STEADES (Safety Trend Evaluation and Analysis Data Exchange System) provided by IATA and are aviation safety incident data management and analysis programs.

  • ASIAS combines data from a number of sources, including Flight Operations Quality Assurance programs (FOQA), Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAP), the Aviation Safety Reporting System, the Air Traffic Safety Action Program for air traffic controllers, the national offload program, radar track data and data from ASDE-X.
  • The STEADES database provides the world’s largest database of de-identified airline incident reports, providing a secure environment for airlines to pool safety information for global benchmarking and analysis needs.

Both provide data on key safety performance indicators, helping airlines to benchmark and establish safety performance targets.

Operator data is made available to ASIAS using Application Program Interface (API) capability of Q-Pulse. STEADES integration with Q-Pulse allows customers to provide their data to IATA directly, securely and with confidence to contribute to the powerful analysis tool that IATA provides.

The objectives of STEADES integration is to:

  • Simplify the process for Ideagen Gael’s customers to provide data in a format required by regulators
  • Ensure data is communicated in a secure and confidential manner
  • Provides Ideagen Gael’s customers with the ability to contribute to the appropriate program with minimal effort.

Airlines agree common plan for tackling emissions

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CAPE TOWN | Mon Jun 3, 2013 8:04am EDT

(Reuters) – Global airlines have agreed on a proposal for tackling aircraft emissions in a bid to break international deadlock over an issue that has stoked fears of a carbon trade war.

Airlines representing 85 percent of global traffic urged governments to adopt a single market-based system designed to offset growth in their post-2020 emissions against the funding of projects to cut emissions deemed harmful to the environment.

The decision is designed to offer governments a basis for negotiation after United Nations talks failed to resolve a stand-off between the European Union and a broad flank of other countries over an issue with cross-border implications.

Airlines have been racing to avert a trade war after the European Union suspended an emissions trading scheme for a year to give opponents time to agree on a global system.

So far, little progress has been made in the UN effort to craft an agreement to lower emissions from international air travel, raising doubts that a September target date can be met.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a group of 240 originally state-owned airlines set up to help the UN harmonize aviation after World War II, backed the plan after balancing the interests of airlines usually noted for cut-throat competition.

State-owned Chinese and Indian airlines voted against the measure, echoing what analysts see as the reluctance of their governments to set a precedent for wider climate control talks.

IATA’s director general told Reuters earlier that failure to agree a common position would expose the airline industry to a “patchwork horror story” of different regulations.

Airlines have been trying to use a slim window of opportunity to smooth over their own divisions and seize the initiative before the UN’s aviation body meets in September.

One of the most sensitive topics is whether the whole industry should pay for its emissions or whether the airlines growing the most should pay the most.

Airlines in the Gulf and Asia are growing at a much faster pace than those in mature European and North American markets. The IATA plan includes safeguards to protect the various camps.

“It is a question of finding the right sweet spot,” American Airlines Chief Executive Thomas Horton told Reuters.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Siva Govindasamy, Samantha Lee; Editing by Mark Potter)

 

Sextant Readings Solutions – aviation professionals with a focus on Safety and Risk Management, Quality Management and Quality Assurance, and Compliance for the Aviation Industry, is an IS-BAO Support Services Affiliate, IS-BAO safety consultant and Auditor