Quality and Safety Two Sides of the Same Coin - Coursework Example

Quality and Safety Two Sides of the Same Coin Table of Contents Risk in Aviation Industry 5 Importance of Quality in Aviation Industry 7 Safety in Aviation Industry 8 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction It is often considered that the quality and safety are the ‘two sides of the same coin’. In recent times, with the growth in number of accidents and aviation mishaps, it has forced many commercial aviation companies to deem additional focus on its quality provided to passengers as, the need of safety has become an issue of crucial importance in order to ensure safe journey to the passengers. According to National Transportation Safety Board, civil aviation accidents in the United States for 2011 had slightly increased than the previous year (i.e. 2010). Numbers of civil accidents have increased from 1500 in the year 2010 to 1550 in the year 2011. Simultaneously, the fatalities have increased from 473 in the year 2010 to 485 in the year 2011. In the year 2011, 28 mishaps were accounted for the Part 121 air carriers and 4 accidents were reported for the part 135 commuter1. This statistic show that the differences between the accidents rates between the two years do not vary much, even though efforts have been made that are needed to ensure higher quality and considerable safety to the consumers. It has undoubtedly become one among the top most priorities of the aviation companies. Aviation industry is an important industry in the United Kingdom and influences the country’s overall economy and lives of the people. The British Airways based in the UK is one of the best airline companies operating in the world. Its brand revolves round the customer satisfaction and its primary goal is to provide utmost satisfaction to its customers through ensuring quality and safety. The aviation industry in the United Kingdom is booming at a tremendous rate every year, thereby creating the need to maintain best quality along with the highest safety measures to its customers2. The continuously changing environment in the aviation sector has posed certain significant challenges to improve the quality in service and the safety measures provided to the customers. Risk in Aviation Industry Risk in aviation industry emanates from a number of factors. Pilots usually have to work in complex circumstances and operate together with different technologies. In such circumstances, the risk is very high and threats come from variety of sources3. Icing during the winters causes dense layer of clouds cover that may cause difficulties to the pilot while flying. Icing and freezing are common in European countries including the United Kingdom. The other major reason that acts as a hurdle in the aviation is the wind factor. During taking off or at the time of landing, strong wind possesses considerable risk to the aircrafts. During thunderstorm, lightening is caused which discharges electric that may destroy the aircraft and may cause fire in the fuel tank which may result into explosion in the aircraft4. In addition to this, it can disrupt the communication system and the navigation tool present in the aircraft. When there is a large storm, it may accompany with the hail stone that may damage the skin of the aircraft. It is not only the natural factors that cause damages and create threats while flying in aircrafts but the most imperative factor that is responsible for the aircraft mishap is the technical errors. Today, alike other sector, the aviation sector is also highly dependent on technology. Despite technological advancements, there have been a number of cases of technological failures such as engine failure and communication error during the course of a flight. Engine failure is probably the most dangerous situation that may lead to fatal accidents. Engine failure may be caused by the contamination of fuel or the pump failure. Another reason for the engine failure is the spark plugs that may not function properly during the flying stage5. Technological factors can be avoided, if proper inspection is conducted before the flight takeoff. Engineers’ are usually entrusted with the responsibility of the inspection. Their alertness and precaution can curtail the aircraft accidents by a large extent. Importance of Quality in Aviation Industry Quality and safety system is firmly related with the aviation technology since its first operation. At present, the aviation industry is expected to deliver high quality to its customers along with ascertaining the safety measures. There are numbers of rules and regulations to be followed in order to provide quality and safety to the potential customers. In order to maintain high quality in the service provided by the airline industry, it is required that a flexible team having good knowledge and experienced experts are available within the organization. For this purpose, an aviation organization must make its employees properly trained and motivated to have their best efforts toward the organization in order to meet the customer expectations. It is necessary that the best available industry talents are recruited who will perform the allotted tasks with the outmost dedication and also help to develop the aviation industry effectively in the challenging circumstances. One of the important principles that must go hand in hand with the quality system is the accountability. Quality system must ensure proper operational procedure in providing quality service to its customer and it must work in conformity with legal frameworks6. Problems related to the quality must be identified and effective solutions must be employed to tackle the identified problems. In addition to these, proper means of monitoring system should be formed to check the activities within the organization frequently. The management must ensure the highest degree of safety to its customers to enhance the quality of performance provided to them. The management should always endeavour to integrate the knowledge of expertise with the organizational experience to ensure that sufficient safety measures are available and highest degree of quality is being allotted to the prospective customers. Effective execution of Total Quality Management (TQM) is regarded as the essence of the era. Along with the incorporation of TQM, to maintain the highest degree of quality, the management must bring in certain strategic changes such as improvements in its interior systems and processes to enhance its capabilities and safety performances. Another change that is ought to be directed is the reduction of the impact of the aviation sector upon the environment in order to make full use of the airspace7. The regulations and the principles to be followed must be according to the legal requirement and must also be able to ensure sufficient profitability to the management. Safety in Aviation Industry In present globalised world, aviation industry plays an important role in any economy and the risk involved in the aviation has been the major concern in recent years. Thus, it has become essential that the risks associated with the flights are either eliminated or minimized to prevent any tragedy causing loss to mankind. In order to ensure safety and quality, the aircraft organizations must allot their considerable time in activities like engineering, aircraft maintenance and design. It is also vital that the organizations develop new technologies and secure dependable modes of communication tools that can be utilized even at the difficult times. With the increase in the numbers of flight, the air traffic has also increased, thus airports need to maintain airdrome lights and advanced tools of communication to communicate with the pilots to reduce mishap or tragedy8. Pilots use different equipments like inertial navigation tool, collision avoidance tool, Global Positioning System (GPS) and radar to establish locations and to avoid accidents. In order to provide safety to customers, equipments used by the pilots must be free from errors and should be inspected before the takeoffs of the flights. The different components of the aircraft like electrical and hydraulic systems must also be checked to ensure safety and quality of service to the potential customers. It is also common that lots of pilots suffer from mental fatigue due to sleep loss or because of change in shifts. Fatigue in the pilots has been the cause of many aircraft accidents in the recent past9. In order to reduce such incidents, it is essential that proper rest and break is provided to the pilots and other staff so that risk of aircraft crash or any other mishap is minimized and in addition to this the pilots and the other crew members can give their best quality service to the organization. This in turn will ensure safety of passengers in the flights. Conclusion The rapidly growing aviation industry has been highly dynamic and competitive that has provided the customers with wide range of choices in terms of services quality and the airline selection but nevertheless, in the era of globalization there has been considerable challenges faced by the aviation sector in terms of quality and safety as well. The environmental factors such as the volcanic smoke, hail stone, clouds and thunderstorm have always been influencing the safety consideration of the aviation industry. Moreover, the human factors and the technical factors have also been causing threats to the quality and the safety measures offered by the aviation companies to the customers and its overall performance. The pilots must be trained properly and the tools used during the operation must be able to function even in the adverse situations so that the chances of any fatal accidents are reduced. The management should also ensure adequate rest and facilities in order to reduce the fatigue associated with pilots and other staff members. There must be efficient system in place to maintain the air traffic and reduce the impact on the environment. Thus, conclusively, it can be ascertained that quality and safety are the ‘two sides of the same coin’ and should go hand-in-hand References Aviation Safety Bureau, ‘Airplane safety-minimizing the risks’, Modern Airplane Safety Dangers, , 2012, (accessed 25 July 2012). Civil Aviation Authority. ‘Annual report & accounts’, Sustainability, , 2011, (accessed 25 July 2012). Civil Aviation Authority. ‘Civil aviation authority’, Air Traffic Control, , No Date, (accessed 25 July 2012). Global Security. ‘Military’, Environmental Effects, , 2011, (accessed 25 July 2012). Helmreich, R.L. ‘On error management: lessons from aviation’, Managing Error In Aviation, , 2000, (accessed 25 July 2012). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ‘Transportation safety’, Aviation Safety, , No Date, (accessed 25 July 2012). National Transportation and Safety Board. ‘NTSB press release’, Annual Aviation Statistics for 2011 Released: No Fatalities on U.S. Airlines or Commuters, General Aviation Accidents Increased, , 2012, (accessed 25 July 2012). Oxford Journal. ‘Prevalence of fatigue among commercial pilots’, Occupational Medicine, Vol. 56, issue 4, 2012, pp. 263-268 Read More