By: Sergio Romero
Safety/Quality-Driven
Lecturer, Author & Manager
“… because doubt causes chaos and one's own demise”
Michael Pearson from the film “The Gentlemen”
2019
A Safety Management System will be never successfully implemented if an organization focuses right or just on safety, risks and mitigation or prevention measures, since this is neither the basic first interest nor the ultimate intention or purpose of the SMS. What is it by the way? To produce a systematic approach for the benefit of the organization. It means organizations must produce quality-based results, optimal use of resources and trained staff within a risk-based thinking environment.
As you might be aware, such a properly executed implementation requires individual and organizational competences. It meansatwo-way effort in terms of knowledge and experience in the Management System, including setting out and promoting policies and objectives, as well as monitoring the achievement thereof, executing leadership in this process, auditing or surveying the organizational level of compliance togettoknowpertinent setbacks and improvement opportunities ordesigningtraining and/or communications means for the staffofthe organization.
Once the organization understands such a management environment, and practices a qualitative and quantitative process approach to render services as designed and get the benefit of this, the next step must be followed. It means the organization is now competent to implement the Safety Management System. Why that way? This is the first step: The organization is fully aware of how to manage itself through interactive processes depending on each other. It's not a fixed arrangement. We are not dealing here with the individual elements' compliance of the management system structure. These elements enable a "living-creature" system when interacting or coordinating each other. There is no starring in a management system. It's an ant-based symbiotic environment wherein one's job is the input for another part of the whole process. It means we have searchers or detectors, as well as collectors, working together in synchronized gear for survival purposes. Just to make a fundamentals review, the question is obvious: What's a Management System then?
Pursuant to IS 9000:2015, clause 3.5.3 a management system is a "set of interrelated or interacting elements of an organization to establish policies and objectives, and processes to achieve those objectives.”
Among the notes to this IS 9000:2015 definition, the second one is purposeful for this article: "the management system elements establish the organization’s structure, roles and responsibilities, planning, operation, policies, practices, rules, beliefs, objectives and processes to achieve those objectives." I feel we should follow this outline and apply it right to the SMS.
So, this above was the pre-operational stage of the Safety Management System. The organization is able now to live, work and get benefits of the Management System. So, this shall be followed by the organizational management of the safety.
Taking into account our insights the operational context along with the latent conditions of the organization shall be part of the safety gear equation. An aeronautical organization can never disregard such latent conditions or culture within which the undesired events are occurring. Otherwise, organizations will not be aware of the real root causes of deviations, violations, incidents or accidents. What do organizations will get when not addressing the grounds and going straight to the top of the building or "iceberg" instead? They will certainly get defenses, but of a preventive nature, with the seed still within the core of the safety system. Why? The seed is still there, because active failure defenses run randomly at the top of the system without being able to even erode such a seed.
So, the SMS framework:
Safety Policy and Objectives;
Safety Risk Management;
Safety Assurance; and
Safety Promotion.
Should not be taken in a halted or stationary arrangement, because a management system is running. As long as organizations become fully aware of the geared nature of the system, the following shall be taken into account:
SMS Component 1 includes the strategic activities or procedures of the system. Upon the performance of such activities, there is a possibility of not following the procedures as designed. Such a possibility is of an unknown magnitude; i.e., there's uncertainty. How will this uncertainty overcome? We have SMS Component 2 for that. Through this, hazards are identified and consequences thereof are analyzed and assessed. If these exceed the ALoS, mitigation comes into place and new defense controls take part (mostly ineffective when addressing just active failures since the same icnidents and accidents are recurring over time). What shall we do with the new controls? We must know they are effective. How are we sure about that? SMS Component 3 is designed to do that. How? This component is able to verify the safety performance through audits, surveys or even studies. Since this component deals also with the continued improvement, SPIs (KPIs in any Management System) are monitored and decisions are made. For such a decision-making process, training and communication; i.e., SMS Component 4, becomes a permanent "pointer", which enables the onset, currency or continuation of the staff competences.
Let's make an ultimate review of the fundamentals above:
Organizations must fully understand what is a Management System and how to run it. This can be called a Pre-Operational SMS stage.
Once this previous stage has been completed, SMS implementation must take into account issues like operational context and culture prior to setting out active failure defenses.
The SMS is no rigid, halted or stationary model. Its components and elements interact and depend each other to perform as designed.
Whereas the management system is understood, addressed and performed, successful implementation of the SMS is ensured along with required level of quality and profitability.
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