SM ICG Returns to Face-to-Face Meetings in Paris, France with Engaging Aviation Industry Day Event Focused on Resilience and SMS

Paris, France was the site of the first in-person Safety Management International Collaboration Group (SM ICG) meeting since the COVID crisis began. Twenty-three representatives from twelve member authorities gathered from October 17th through the 21st for a full day plenary session and three working meeting days. In addition, the week included an Industry Day outreach event. The threat of a Paris-wide transportation strike on the day of the event did not deter participation. Instead, participants used their finely-honed, pandemic-acquired skills and pivoted to online participation, resulting in 30 French industry representatives attending in person and over 60 participating virtually.

Industry Day marks a unique opportunity for aviation service providers in France to hear directly from a group of authorities from across the world, and for those authorities to receive feedback on SM ICG products. The full day session was divided into two parts—Safety Management Systems (SMS) as a Tool to Overcome Crises and Innovative Approaches to SMS after the COVID Crisis. The event included nine presentations and two moderated round table discussions.

The SM ICG was established in 2009 to promote a common understanding of safety management principles and requirements, facilitating their application across the international aviation community. Since its formation, the group has published over 30 products, and several have been translated into French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Over the years, the SM ICG has increased outreach to the greater international aviation community. The inaugural Industry Day event took place in Ottawa, Canada in 2012 with subsequent events held in The Hague, Netherlands; Seattle, Washington, USA; Bern, Switzerland; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cologne, Germany; Vancouver, Canada; Rome, Italy; Miami, Florida, USA; Gatwick, United Kingdom; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Brisbane, Australia; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Patrick Cipriani, Director of the Directorate of Civil Aviation Safety (DSAC) within the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC), welcomed everyone to the event noting that it was an honor to welcome the SM ICG for the first time in France and to open Industry Day. He emphasized that “as far as safety management topics are concerned, no one alone has all the answers. Indeed, safety management requires a common and good understanding between regulatory bodies, national authorities, and all aviation industry organizations. It is therefore necessary to listen, to exchange, to understand the constraints and challenges of each other.” He added, “Meetings like today are a great opportunity. They allow all the aviation community to continue moving in the same direction and ensure a high level of safety. They also allow SM ICG members to develop and align their products in order to meet the needs and to benefit the wider aviation community.”

Andrew Larsen, Associate Director of Standards at Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) and 2022 SM ICG Chair, thanked the DGAC for hosting the SM ICG over the course of the week and organizing the Industry Day event. He said, “It is very important to us [the SM ICG] to have this connection with industry. We do rotate these meetings. We host them twice a year in different parts of the world and the reason we rotate is to really have that connection with the local industry and to make sure that we're sharing our information and our knowledge but also getting that connection with industry as well.” He went on to say, “Aviation is very global. We all recognize that more so than ever, and the importance that aviation plays in connecting us around the world. That harmonization aspect really is key.”

Throughout the course of the day, 11 industry representatives provided their experiences with and insights on how they handled the recent COVID crisis leveraging SMS and lessons learned for future crises (already put to the test with the War in Ukraine). Presentations were given by Matt Lillywhite, International Air Transport Association (IATA); Estelle Le Guilcher, Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne (DSNA); Sébastien Mir, Transavia France; Fabrizio Dido, Safran Landing Systems; Daniel Bolot and Gerard Couvreur, Light Aviation French Federation (FFA); Julie Audouit, Time to Fly; Pamela Cripps, Flight Safety International; Olivier Sciara, Union of French Airports (UAF), Laura Paulais, Orly Airport/Groupe ADP; Corinne Bieder, French School of Civil Aviation (ENAC). The briefings and speaker biographies are available for download on the SM ICG SKYbrary site.

The event was highly interactive with participants both in the room and online able to engage with speakers using slido.com. In addition, Naima Lagdaa, Technical Director in charge of Airports and Air Navigator Oversight in DGAC/DSAC, moderated two panels—one for each of the two parts to the day. As Ms. Lagdaa highlighted during the meeting, the second panel consisted of all women, not normally a common sight in the industry. The groups fielded questions from participants, providing more insight into their experiences and sharing their various perspectives based on their roles in the aviation industry.

Mr. Larsen closed the meeting by thanking the industry representatives for their participation and encouraging them to reach out to the SM ICG with feedback and suggestions for topics for future projects. He also encouraged everyone to email [email protected] to be added to the SM ICG mailing list to receive notification when new SM ICG products are released on SKYbrary.

Download Presentations

• Full Industry Day Article
• Presenter Abstracts & Biographies
• Industry Day Participant List
• IOSA Risk-Based Approach by Matt Lillywhite (IATA)
• DSNA Facing COVID Crisis by Estelle Le Guilcher (DSNA)
• SMS and COVID-19 Crisis Transavia Feedback by Sébastien Mir (Transavia)
• SMS Proactive Approach In Global Context by Fabrizio Dido (Safran Landing Systems)
• SMS for Small and Medium Aero Clubs by Gerard Couvreur (FFA)
• Business Aviation's SMS Issues and Solutions by Julie Audouit (Time to Fly)
• Training for Safety by Pamela Cripps (Flight Safety International)
• CASH by Olivier Sciara (UAF) and Laura Paulais (Orly Airport, Groupe ADP)
• Resilience and Safety Management by Corinne Bieder (ENAC)

Industry Day Event Archive

The Safety Management International Collaboration Group (SM ICG), a group of 19 aviation regulatory bodies, was established in 2009. Since its formation, the group has produced over 30 products and has begun to focus more on outreach to the greater international aviation community. To that end, the SM ICG has begun holding Industry Day events during its semi-annual meetings. Read more about other SM ICG Industry Day events.