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Definition
“A safety programme is an integrated set of regulations and activities aimed at
improving safety.” (ICAO Doc 9859)
Objective
To achieve an acceptable level of safety of aviation services and products delivered
by aviation service providers - aircraft operators, air navigation service providers,
airport operators, training and maintenance organisations.
Description
Annexes 1, 6, 8, 11, 13 and 14 to the Chicago Convention include the requirement
for States to establish a State safety programme (SSP) aimed to achieve an acceptable
level of safetyin aviation operations. The objective of these paragraphs is to harmonise
and extend provisions relating to safety management to all categories of aviation
service providers - aircraft operators, air navigation service providers, certified
aerodrome operators, maintenance organisations, organisations responsible for type
design and/or assembly of aircraft and training organisations.
The framework for the implementation and maintenance of a State’s safety programme
is contained in Chapter 11 of the ICAO SMM. It consists of four components and ten
elements, outlined hereunder:
- State’s Safety Policy and Objectives
- CAA Safety Standards
The State has to promulgate a national legislative framework and specific regulations
to ensure compliance with international and national standards, and define how the
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will oversee the management of safety in the State.
This includes the CAA’s participation in specific activities related to the management
of safety in the State, and the establishment of the roles, responsibilities, and
relationships of organisations in the system. The safety standards are periodically
reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and appropriate to the State.
- CAA Safety Responsibilities and Accountabilities
The State has to identify and define the CAA’s requirements, responsibilities and
accountabilities regarding the establishment and maintenance of the State’s safety
programme. This includes the directives to plan, organise, develop, control and
continuously improve the State’s safety programme in a manner that meets the State’s
safety needs. It also includes a clear statement about the provision of the necessary
human and financial resources for the implementation of the State’s safety programme.
- Accident and Incident Investigation
The State has to establish an independent accident and incident investigation process,
the sole objective of which is to support the management of safety in the
State and not the apportioning of blame on liability.
- Enforcement Policy
The State has to promulgate an enforcement policy that allows operators/service
providers to deal with, and resolve, events involving safety deviations and minor
violations internally, within the context of the operator/service provider safety
management system (SMS), to the satisfaction of the authority. The enforcement policy
should include provisions for the CAA to deal with events involving gross negligence
and willful deviations through established enforcement procedures.
- State’s Safety Risk Management
- Safety Requirements for Service Providers SMS
The CAA has to establish the controls which govern how operators/service providers
will identify operational hazards and manage safety risks. This includes the requirements,
specific operating regulations and implementation policies for operator's/service
providers’ SMS. The requirements and specific operating regulations should be periodically
reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and appropriate to the operators/service
providers.
- Approval of Service Providers Acceptable Levels of Safety Performance (ALOSP)The
CAA has to agree on, and approved, acceptable levels of safety Performance with
individual operators/service providers. These acceptable levels of safety are commensurate
to the complexity of individual operator's and service provider’s specific operational
contexts and the availability of individual resources to address safety risks. The
agreed acceptable levels of safety are expressed by multiple safety performance
indicators and safety performance targets, never by a single one, as well as by
safety requirements. The agreed acceptable levels of safety should be periodically
reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and appropriate to the operators/service
providers.
- State’s Safety Assurance
- Safety Oversight
The CAA has to establish mechanisms to ensure that the identification of operational
hazards and the management of safety risks by operators/service providers follow
established regulatory controls (requirements, specific operating regulations and
implementation policies). These mechanisms include inspections, audits and surveys
to ensure that regulatory safety risk controls are appropriately integrated into
the service providers’ SMS, that they are being practiced as designed, and that
the regulatory controls have the intended effect on safety risks.
- Safety Data Collection, Analysis and Exchange
The CAA has to establish mechanisms to ensure that the capture and storage of data
on operational hazards and safety risks is at an aggregate State’s level. The CAA
has also to establish mechanisms to develop information from the stored data, and
to actively exchange safety information with service providers and/or other States
as appropriate.
- Safety Data Driven Targeting of Oversight on Areas of Greater Concern or
NeedThe CAA has to establish procedures to prioritize inspections, audits
and surveys towards those areas of greater safety concern or need, as identified
by the analysis of data on operational hazards and safety risks areas.
- State’s Safety Promotion
- Internal Training, Communication and Dissemination of Safety Information
The CAA has to provide training, awareness, and two-way communication of safety
relevant information to support, within the CAA, the development of a positive organizational
culture that fosters the development of an effective and efficient State’s safety
programme.
- External Training, Communication and Dissemination of Safety Information
The CAA has to provide education, awareness of safety risks and two-way communication
of safety relevant information to support among services providers the development
of a positive organizational culture that fosters safe practices, encourages safety
communications and actively manages safety with the same attention to results as
financial management.
SSP IS BEYOND SMS OF SERVICE PROVIDER
Although the implementation and continued operation of safety management systems
by operators/service providers is at the core of a State’s safety programme, the
scope of the safety programme is much broader. It also includes safety activities
assigned to State authorities, as well as management and development of interfaces
between a wide spectrum of organisations and institutions sharing the responsibility
for the safety of air operations. These organisations can be grouped in several
broad categories:
- International organisations (ICAO, European Commission, EASA, EUROCONTROL, etc.);
- Contracting States to Chicago Convention, respectively national authorities responsible
for civil aviation (CAAs); Regional forums such as COSCAP-SA
- Regulated entities - aviation service providers, equipment manufacturers, training
organisations, etc.;
- Industry and professional associations and unions.
Achieving acceptable levels of safety globally, regionally and locally requires
that the interfaces between the entities in the above categories are also managed
consistently.
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