Safety Achievement

Safety Achievement

Definition

Safety achievement is an essential domain of a Safety Management System (SMS) as defined in ESARR 3 and comprises a set of organisational arrangements, processes and systematic actions deployed to accomplish the organisation’s safety objectives and achieve high safety standards.

According to ESARR 3 safety achievement is the “the result of processes and/or methods applied to attain acceptable or tolerable safety.”

Objective

To set up dedicated specific arrangements and processes by which the safety performance of the organisation is to meet the desired safety standards.

Description

The modern management of safety of aviation operations increasingly relies on a spectrum of dedicated organisational arrangements, methods and processes to manage proactively the risk. Worldwide, there is no uniform definition of the set of arrangements, processes, methods and procedures which, when applied in a consistent manner, will ensure achievement of the organisation’s safety objectives.

The scope of Safety Achievement as defined in EUROCONTROL ESARR 3 includes also the Safety Risk Management component of the ICAO SMS Framework.

Safety Achievement Components

The framework established by ESARR 3 is generic enough and can be applied widely by the different aviation services provider organisations. The Safety Achievement domain includes the following components:

  • Competency - A set of organisational arrangements ensuring that personnel are adequately trained and competent for the job they are required to do, in addition to being properly licensed if so required and satisfying applicable medical fitness requirements.
  • SMS Organisational Structure - A safety management function shall be identified with organisational responsibility for development and management of the safety management system.
  • Risk Management - A set of organisational arrangements, processes, procedures and systematic actions ensuring that safety risks are identified, adequately assessed and mitigated to an appropriate level to guarantee a safe aviation service.
  • Quantitative Safety Levels - Wherever practicable, quantitative approach is used to define and maintain the safety levels as a set of numerical expressions for all functional systems under the managerial control of the aviation system provider.
  • Safety Occurrence Reporting - A set of organisational arrangements and systematic actions (an occurrence reporting system) designed to facilitate the collection of information on actual or potential safety deficiencies.
  • Safety Occurrence Investigation - A process and systematic actions ensuring that known operational and technical occurrences, which are considered to have negative safety implications, are investigated and analysed in order to prevent their recurrence.
  • SMS Documentation - An organisational arrangement and systematic actions ensuring that the SMS is developed and operated as a documented system. The usual means for documenting the SMS is the Safety Management Manual (SMM) or equivalent documentation.

The Safety Achievement components are closely interrelated and can not be implemented and applied in isolation. Only a consistent, integrated and systematic application of these processes and procedures will help increase the aviation system resistance to unsafe acts and hazardous conditions.

Further Reading

ICAO

European Commission

EUROCONTROL

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