Author Archives: Michele Davis

Summary of Frequent Taxonomy in Airline SMS

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Introduction

There are multiple components that are needed for an effective Safety Management System (SMS); one of them being detailed and accurate taxonomy. In SMS, Taxonomy is a tool that is used to accurately describe safety events, hazards, human factors, etc. by providing a structured and standardized assortment of descriptive phrases and terms. This improves the quality of information and communication within an organization as there is a common language, which increases focus on safety issues within an airline.

To establish a comprehensive reporting system that provides valuable data regarding safety events, taxonomies are critical for airline SMS. Through our years of experience in implementing various taxonomies for a variety of airlines, we have become familiar with taxonomies that address specific elements of aviation safety event reporting. We have also discovered that airlines with successful safety programs configure different taxonomies to better meet their operational needs which enhances their safety operations. Summarized below are just a few of the many taxonomies that are most commonly utilized by airlines.

 

Airline Taxonomies

Accident/Incident Data Reporting Program – ADREP

ADREP is an ICAO taxonomy that carefully describes possible situations or subjects related to a safety event. ADREP consists of taxonomies related to Aircraft Categories, Entities and attributes, Aviation Operation, Descriptive factors, Events, Events phases, Occurrence category, Occurrence classes, Organizations/Persons, etc.

Basic categories for ADREP events are

  • Aircraft/system/component
  • Operations of the aircraft
  • Consequential events
  • Air Navigation Services
  • Aerodrome and ground aids
  • Civil Aviation Authority/administration
  • Non-compliance with regulations

 

Harmonization of European Incident Definitions Initiatives for ATM – HEIDI

HEIDI is a taxonomy designed for the Safety of Air Navigation. HEIDI taxonomy is a useful supporting tool for a cohesive approach to the reporting process. The HEIDI taxonomy covers the following aspects of safety reporting:

  • Background
  • Event Types
  • Descriptive Factors
  • Explanatory Factors
  • Classification Scheme
  • Safety Recommendations
  • Glossary

 

Threats and Errors Management – TEM

TEM, which was developed by industry safety experts and crewmembers, is a taxonomy that is convenient for event reporting for Aircraft Captains. TEM’s entire concept, while focused on human factors, is finding the possible threats that could have a negative impact on human factors in the system. TEM assumes that active threats could lead to increased personnel errors and, when compared to ADREP, TEM is more concise.

 

Human Factor Analysis and Classification System – HFACS

HFACS has the premier goal to support accident analyzing processes by discovering human factor element roles and causes directly linked to the event which later could influence accident recognition. HFACS includes four failure levels, each of these four is further divided into lower levels or categories/sub-categories.

  • Unsafe Acts consisting of Errors and Violations
  • Organizational Influences
  • Unsafe Supervisions
  • Precondition for Unsafe Acts failure levels

 

Conclusion

Taxonomies are a supporting tool in aviation reporting systems which enable airlines to better understand, define, and categorize reported events. Enabling airline personnel to properly describe and evaluate safety data is the true purpose and benefit of taxonomies.

Although taxonomies are standardized, taxonomies are most impactful when customized to meet the needs of each individual organization. It is important for airlines to adapt and modify their taxonomies according to their operation. Standard taxonomies are a great starting point because they tend to incorporate industry overlaps in common safety event descriptors, but they would not be able to fully capture all phrases or descriptions that are relevant to each airline.

For these reasons, the ProSafeT team has concluded that providing an SMS platform with the ability to reflect an airline’s particular taxonomy, and modify it as its operations change, is not just helpful but necessary for a successful safety program.

Pre-Task Risk Assessments: FRATs, ORMs and Data-Driven Decisions

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When implementing and utilizing a Safety Management System (SMS), one key element is developing and integrating the use of a pre-task risk assessment process. A key example being a Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT). Every flight has some level of risk and assessing the risk before a plane is in the air can help to avoid safety incidents and ensure the success of an airline’s SMS.

 

What is a FRAT?

A FRAT consists of a series of questions with an associated risk level. When these questions are consolidated, a total risk assessment score for the flight is attained. Using the score, airlines may determine if that risk exceeds that airline’s specified risk threshold or not, thus providing a tool that allows pilots to make informed go/no-go decisions.

In summary, after using a FRAT to assess the risk, the data collected is:

  • A comprehensive risk assessment score for the flight
  • A risk profile for the different phases of the flight
  • Most relevant hazard and risk concerns in need of attention

These data points come together to give a holistic understanding of what specific risks a flight has and the levels of those risks before departure — giving the pilot key information that will assist them in making important go/no-go decisions.

 

Integrating with SMS

Integrating an airline’s FRAT with its Safety Management System (SMS) allows for enhanced data-sharing which enables airlines to cross-reference FRAT and SMS data in a central repository quickly. This integration can also provide additional insights into an airline’s organization since the airline’s SMS could provide richer analytics and reports with the incorporation of this data.

Integrating the data with various parts of an airlines SMS also allows other parties in the organization to utilize the data collected. For example, Safety Analysts will have access to this additional information which can help them to look for specific trends in various pilot’s FRAT scores while being able to correlate that information with safety reports. Thus, allowing for a more comprehensive overview of safety events which could lead to enhanced risk mitigation strategies.

 

Additional Use for FRATs

More and more airlines are seeing the benefits that pre-task risk assessments, such as FRATs, are providing and are expanding these assessments beyond preflight operations.  As part of their SMS platforms, some airlines are now ensuring that their SMS providers include an Operational Risk Management Tool (ORM) in their systems. These ORMs are structured and work very similar to that of traditional FRATs, but expand the pre-task assessments to above wing, below wing, and various other operations. These integrated ORM tools allow airlines to take charge and mitigate risk in a wide variety of scenarios, ensuring that tasks are carried out in the safest way possible while avoiding costly safety incidents and accidents.

 

Conclusion

Utilizing pre-task assessment tools within airline SMS improves airline operations. Not only are they useful for data-driven insight to assist with pre-flight decision making, but they provide cross-referenceable data that can be utilized to enhance airline operations. Integrating an airline’s FRAT and ORMs with its SMS is key to maximizing the utilization of these platform’s safety data.

Automated SMS: What are the Critical Functions for Efficiency?

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The FAA’s final rule required most U.S. commercial airlines to have an implemented Safety Management System (SMS) by March 2018.  There are many systems which allow the automation of SMS’ four key components – safety policy, safety risk management, safety promotion, and safety assurance – but distinguishing which features/functions are most needed to automate this critical operation can be difficult. In the sea of features SMS vendors provide, three features are crucial to maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of an automated SMS.

Intuitiveness

Simply because a process has been digitized, does not guarantee that it will be more efficient.  A user-friendly SMS platform will provide intuitive navigation for end users which will maximize operational efficiencies. By reducing the number of clicks it takes to perform tasks in a system, an intuitive platform will enhance productivity and can lower labor costs.

Safety data is the engine that provides organizations with the most impactful insights for improving safety and mitigating risk.  Having an intuitive platform will ensure personnel with lower levels of comfort with technology will not be discouraged from submitting safety reports/data thus improving the system’s effectiveness. An intuitive system will also minimize the amount of training needed for end users and ease system adoption.

Unlimited Licenses

Limiting licenses leads to limited results.  Unlimited licenses allow all stakeholders to have reporting access.  With everyone being able to report through the system even the smallest safety issues will not slip through the cracks, increasing the safety promotion element of SMS.  Additionally, this creates a more holistic view of every issue as all of those who witnessed it will be able to access and complete the necessary reports, feeding further into the safety culture of the organization.

Other benefits include an increase in communication as messages sent through the system will reach all stakeholders.  Promoting safety within the organization becomes a defined focus when all stakeholders are invited to meetings and training.  Not to mention it cuts costs as airlines grow since purchasing more licenses will never be a factor.

Analytics and Easy Report Generating

The most significant part of automating SMS is using the data.  A system with analytics will allow translation of SMS Data into insight that enables airlines to identify problems and make informed decisions for the future.  This leads to a strong safety culture and makes it easy to deal in accident prevention.

Easy report generation will allow airlines many options to use the data collected without spending too much time exporting reports.  Having the data in hand in as few clicks as possible not only saves time but reduces stress and frustration caused by over-complicated report acquisition.  Being able to get the report needed, in the format preferred, in just a few clicks and a couple of minutes is imperative to not only efficiency but time management.

Conclusion

To recap, intuitive platform, unlimited licenses, and analytics/reporting capabilities are all critical elements for an automated SMS software solution.  SMS not only allows airlines a system to report safety issues, but it will enable the airline an opportunity to improve its processes through the effective use of the data collected and promote safety within their organization.  These three features attribute to this, as they allow for ease of data entry, no limits to stakeholder’s ability to enter the data, and the ability to translate that data into usable figures.  These features work together to create an efficient automated SMS and develop a strong safety culture within an organization.