Aviation Safety Management - Case Study Example

The Running Head: Aviation Safety Management     Your name:   Course name:             Professors’ name: Date: Abstract Aviation safety management is more than just a legal and moral obligation; most airlines companies have seen the need to operate airplanes safely. However, due to increase in the number of accidents involving airplanes in the last ten years that was as a result of human factors, most commercial airlines have recognized and started implementing prevention practices which have been expanded to include all workers that are working with airplane operations. One such method that has been implemented in most airlines companies is the implementation of ICAO Standard that requires airlines to adhere to the prevention and flight safety programs. It is the work of a safety program that would monitor and identifies operational faults and hazards for effective management of risk in these airline companies. All commercial airlines should realize that implementation of aviation safety management in their companies is an investment that has higher returns over the long term and it is management driven. Introduction Since 9/11 Terrorist attack, many people in the world uses the terms “security” and “safety” a lot, as they relate it to flying. The two words are widely used as synonymously, but the two terms have significant different meanings when it comes to flying or air travel (Wood, 2010). Aviation safety can be defined as the efforts that are put by airline companies to ensure their airplanes are free from those factors that may cause accidents or injuries to their passengers or flight crews, while Aviation security can be defined as any factor that can affect the flight crew or passengers safety (Wood, 2010). Aviation safety is not so much related to airplane, but consists of many things such as pre-boarding procedures, intelligence gathering and security at the airports (Department of Transport, UK, 1987). Definition: Aviation safety management can be defined as integration of set of beliefs, procedures and work practices for monitoring and improving the health and safety of all aspect of airline company operations (Reason, 1995). Safety management will recognize the all potential for errors and will establish procedure that ensures that errors in the airline company do not results in accidents or incidents. Aviation safety management will help the airline to identify, classify and manage any risk that will have an effect on the operation of an airline; in addition, it will provide a framework on which the airline will build a sound business. Once safety procedure has been integrated into the airline operations, the benefits will become apparent (Department of Transport, UK, 1987). Many investigations into airline accidents in the past have shown that incidents and accidents can be traced to some form of human error, and these errors can be found at management level- in the development of procedures and policy, in the same way errors in airlines can occur in ramp, flight deck, the hangar or the workshop. Most recently, airports and airlines globally have devoted some of their resources to passenger safety, particularly in areas of providing qualified pilots, maintenance training and airworthy planes. But most recent after the occurrence of terrorist in both New York and London; stringent security measures have been put in place in an effort to protect air passengers. According to Atkins, Steve the vice president of Boeing Airplane Safety and Airworthiness Commercial airline travel is believed to be the fastest modes of transportation, regularly, detailed airplanes maintenance programs are put in place that will enable companies to prevent the problem before they cause an accident. Worldwide, it is estimated around 3 million people fly each day on commercial airplanes, but the risk being in a commercial airplane accident with multiple fatalities is believe to be one in every three million flights. As compared to road accidents, few passengers have died in commercial airplanes in the US in past 60 years than are killed by motor vehicles accidents in a typical Four-month period. This paper will try to highlight the best practices and management that are available in Aviation Industry, and through these best practices and management will help the industry to be safe. Risks Management This process of risk management can be divided into five steps; Hazard Identification Hazard can be defined as any situation or event that can result in injuries or damages. Employees of the airline should be able to report any safety concerns or hazards as they become aware of them (Reason, 1995). Characteristic of an effective hazard identification system is confidential, non-punitive, direct, simple and convenient (Hudson et al,1994). In addition, the system should have an identifiable process for both feedback and action. The hazards of airline operations may be known, such as effect of long-term fatigue or lack of training. Hazard reporting should be recorded without favor or fear; there are methods which can be used to identify hazards in airlines: Group discussions in the airline can be used to generate ideas in a non-bias way, discussion groups should consists of line managers and many airline staff as practical is a good method to identify hazards in an airline companies (Maurino, et al, 1995). In addition, group discussions will encourage employees of the airline to be actively involved in safety programs implementations. Group discussion is used to provide structured methods that are used to identify hazards, which can cause injuries or damage in the company (Hudson et al,1994). The number of employees in a group discussion will depend on the size of the airline operations, but it is good idea for the airline to have many groups that represent various functional areas in the airline (Hudson et al,1994). For example, ground crew, flight operations, pilots, maintenance and engineering and cabin crew. Every participant in a group should be from the same functional area e.g. all engineers or pilots, and so on. Discussion groups have the following benefits; the airline will have current assessment on its safety performance; it will encourage employees to take part in airline safety management; encourages employees to report safety problems; employees will be aware on the implications of safety practices in their working environment; the airline will be able to formally review all the procedures, standards and systems in place; and confidential reporting systems (Edkins, 1998). Hazard Assessment This is the next step after hazard identification; hazards in the airline should be ranked in order of their potential. Factors that must be considered when assessing hazards in the airline should be the likelihood of the occurrence and the implication of the consequences for each hazard. For example, occurrence of fire inside airplane may be an unlikely to occur, but it will be disastrous to the airline if it will occur. But in-flight fire would be ranked above bird strike which is more likely to occur, but it will not cause much damag (Edkins, & Coakes, 1998).. However, in certain areas the likelihood of but strikes is high, and this will increase operational risks of the airline. There are various ways in which hazard assessment can be done, and its ranges from the subjective to objective and analytical. Hazard identification in any airline should be undertaken; when the airline company plan a major operational changes; during implementation of safety program and then yearly; and if the company undergoing rapid growth and expansion, for example acquisition of other airplane types or beginning of new routes structures (Edkins, 1998). Defenses Identification Once airlines companies have identify hazards and ranked accordingly, measures which exist to protect against the hazards, should be implemented. For example, in-flight fire in washrooms waste bin may involve installing systems that can automatic fire extinguisher, fire detect system, hand held fire extinguishers, greater awareness by flight attendants and non-smoking policy, depending on the risk identified (Edkins, & Coakes, 1998). Defenses Assessment The measures to each of identified hazards must be assessed to find their effectiveness; these defenses employed, would they remove or prevent hazard from occurrence or would they minimize the consequence of hazard. For example, an airline can find out if the flight attendants can be able to use fire extinguishers and if the fire extinguishers are correctly serviced and maintained (Edkins, & Coakes, 1998). Examination of Defenses and Hazards This is the last process which critically examined to see if the risk or hazard is appropriately controlled or managed. If the risks well managed, then operations of the airline should continue (Maurino, et al, 1995), but if not, measures should be taken to increase the defenses or to avoid or remove the risk. For example, the airline company may provide recurrent training for its in-flight crew on how to handle fire extinguishers correctly. In practice, the airline should see the need to balance between the cost and practicality of various solutions employed (Edkins, & Coakes, 1998). Hazard Reporting System Airline employees should be able to report any safety concern or hazards they experience in the workplace. Similar to hazard identification, hazard reporting should be simple, direct, non-punitive and convenient. Once the hazards have been reported they must be recognized and investigated, in addition to that, both recommendation and action must follow to address those safety concerns or issues. The system for reporting of hazards should be confidential and non-punitive; this way it will encourage the reporting of safety concerns or hazards by the employees in the airline. Reportable Hazards Airline employees should know what safety concerns or hazards are required to be reported; hazards should be anything that has potential to cause damage or injury to a staff. For example; flight crew fatigue or stress; unsafe ground traffic practices; Poor communication within the maintenance department/contractor; lack of retraining in any related discipline; failure of passengers or agents to listen to and follow Instructions; lack of emergency equipments; poor quality control; time pressure during airplane turn around; failure for in-flight crew to follow standard procedures; inadequate checklists; and lack of up-to- date operational manuals. Reporting Process Reporting of safety concerns or hazards should be in writing, either through E-mail or through existing paperwork, for example cockpit’s voyage report for flying operations. Reporting system in the airline should be made simpler and easy to use, and the company should make sure at all time reported safety concerns which have been reported are acted upon in a timely manner. In addition, confidentially for these report should be between the Safety Officer and the person reporting the hazard or safety concern. Safety Culture Airline safety culture can be defined as the attitudes and behavior that management in airline companies would show about safety procedures- it “how things are done around here” notion. In most airlines safety culture is difficult to change and slowing to mature, but this notion nowadays is slowly changing as a result of many rules and procedures that have been put in place in most countries. Ironically, most commercial airlines have not yet fully implemented workplace safety as a competitive strategy. According to Director of technical standards at FSF’s, Jim Burin, says international airlines safety will be improved when developing economies are persuaded to embrace radical cultural change in going “beyond compliance”- have understanding that conforming with rules and regulations put in place will not deliver satisfactory safety. Burin, goes further in saying, safety performance will be improved when there is positive attitude to safety in airlines. Most accidents that occurred in the world in the past 5 years would have been prevented if the airlines concerned had implemented existing, fully understood, and simple interventions strategies. Few examples of measures that would have eliminated majority of accidents that happen in the past five years: providing upset recovery training for pilots, fitting warning systems (TAWS) and fitting terrain awareness to all commercial airplanes, and airlines companies would have adhered to stabilized approach procedures. There some incidents in which serious accidents have occur as a result of loss of control, for example Air India Express airplane which overran the runway at Mangalore in 2010, despite the weather being good and the runway being dry. After the unstable approach by the airplane should have been stopped, the airplane touched down and ran off the end of the runway down a steep slope, killing all the passengers in the plane. Such accidents would have been prevented if flight crew were properly trained to operate highly automated airplanes, or at present they cannot be effectively trained is there are no checklists for many problems that pilots frequently encounter, and this problem leaves pilots to manage these problems using ingenuity. Most of these accidents should have been eliminated as a cause of airplane crashes (International Civil Aviation Organization, 1984). Safety Induction and Recurrent Training Any new staff in the airline company should be trained on safety programs of the organization; also he/she should be encouraged to adopt the safety practices of the airline company (Hidden, 1989). The airline should provide relevant induction, refresher and human factors training to all its employees is an essential element of any safety program. At same time, the airline should outline safety programs to all new employees. New employees in the airline should know what is expected on them and how safety programs in the airline function, or the airline should develop training courses that touches on safety issues (Hidden, 1989). Safety Assessment As part of safety program, airlines should frequently carry out internal safety assessments, in order to ascertain whether the airline activities are being performed as required and according to the guidelines laid down. Through assessments, the airline will be able to check that correct procedures or measures are being followed, and resolve any issues or problems. Assessment should include the activities of agencies that have been contracted by the airline in areas where the safety of the airline could be compromised. For example, aerodrome operators, maintenance organization or person accepting luggage’s on behalf of the airline. Assessment or audit can be carried out by the following: Representative of the safety action group, Safety Officer or an external safety consultant, and the audit or assessment should be done: annual, checklists should be used, report sent to appropriate line managers and check on follow-up action. Accident Reporting and Investigation Most countries require accidents or incidents to be reported to their respective bodies that are in-charge of country’s aviation industry (Reason, 1994). While those bodies will conduct accidents and incident investigations, it is important for airlines companies to do as well their own investigations. Although, airplanes accidents occur infrequently, but any incident that will compromise the safety of the airplane when is reported should be investigated by a competent employee from within the airline company, and any recommendation or report furnished to Safety Officer of the airline. Airlines are able to learn from investigating accidents or incidents and they are able to strengthen defense or remove hazards as required (Reason, 1994). Safety Program Review and Evaluation It is likely that a new safety program in any airline company will begin with zest. However, once the interest has worn off, there may be laxity on the safety program. But it is the responsibility of the Safety Officer and accountable manager to ensure this does not happen in the airline operations. The accountable manager ensures the safety program has both the resources required for the safety program to continue and the status. In addition, accountable manager should also ensure steps have been taken, so that the safety program is evaluated at regular intervals. The objective is to ensure the safety program remain relevant and effective to the airline operations. Emergency Response Plan In most countries accidents rates involving airplanes are low, but very few commercial airplanes companies are less prepared should an accident occur (Edkins, & Pollock, 1996). Whether an airline company business survives will only depend on how it handles an accident, therefore the airline should have an emergency response plan; it outlines what an airline will do once any accident has occur, who in the company will be responsible for each action (Moshansky, 1992). The employees in the airline should be adequately be briefed about the plan, and appropriate training should be given to airline employees on emergency response procedures. The emergency plan should be readily available and a copy given to that person who directs the telephone calls for the airlines; this is most likely to be the first person to notify of the accident or event (Edkins, & Pollock, 1996). The Plan The airline plan should be; relevant and useful for the employees, who are likely to be working when an accident occurs; include contact details of relevant airline employees; and when there is change in contact of relevant personnel, updates should be made on the same (Edkins, & Pollock, 1996). Notification The airline should specified who will be in-charge of notifying when serious incident or accident has occurred, also the employee will be in charge of making external notifications. The airline should consider the notification needs of: all company employees, insurance company, legal and accounting advisers, operational and executive management team and relative of victims or injured passengers- this is a sensitive issue and should be best handled by trained counselor (Edkins, & Pollock, 1996). Responsibilities An authorized person should be responsible, and this could be either a Safety Officer or a person designated by airline management. Responsibilities should be clearly on matters, such as: the person who will talk to the media, person who will coordinate with the relevant authorities, person who will log the events, person who will represent the airline at the accident and lastly, the person who will give assistance to employees who are involved in an accident (Edkins, & Pollock, 1996). Documentation The airline safety programs should be well documented in appropriate procedures and policy manuals. The following should be included in the document: policy statement by the accountable manager, reporting chain and responsibilities of the safety action group, reporting chain and responsibilities of the Safety Officer, company’s risk management system and hazard identification, and any other airline activities of the program (International Civil Aviation Organization, 1992). Records The safety policy, of the airline, its responsibilities and procedures should be well documented. In addition, those activities that are involved in the identification and assessment of accidents or hazards and their measures, including incidents and accidents must be recorded; this will include any report received or issued, management action and any other recommendation made on the safety of the airline. Cost Benefits Safety in workplace has been critical to the performance of Airlines companies, it is important for airlines to dramatically improve the safety in their workplaces, and this is through instilling the safety culture in the workplace (BOEING, Unpublished). It have been noted Airline workplace safety has a tremendous effect on improving the business culture of an airline. In a airline company when there is accountable and strong leadership, coupled with strong “central” safety process, which is has a deep participation, training and behavioral tools, and robust communications will bring many benefits in the company. These benefits will include: drop in work related injuries, cost and incidents, as well as equipment and airplane damage, in addition, indirectly teamwork, morale and productivity in the company will increase along with both quality of services and operational efficiency will improve (BOEING, Unpublished). Two airlines companies that have adapted the rules and regulation of World Safety Declaration Charter Signer into their operations on safety have seen an improvement in their workplace safety, for example, Qantas and American Eagles. America Eagle This airline company is among the largest in the world, as results of implementation of effective management system, the system has helped the company to reduce its total recordable injuries by 40 per cent in a three year period (Wood, 2010). In addition, the airline was able to reduce lost workdays and airplane ground damage and on-time performance among its employees was improved. The airline has focus on its various hubs to provide safety management systems; this where most of the activities of the airline are carried out and also most of injuries are reported to occur at the hubs. In the hubs a discipline process which focuses on reduction of airline employee’s injuries has been established (Wood, 2010). Also the establishment of functional injury councils focuses on safety and injury performance, for example, at one time there was recurring flight attendant injuries due to difficult-to-open airplane doors, functional injury prevention councils was able to tackle the issues and injuries which are associated with door opening among the flight attendance have reduced as the problem was taken care of by the maintenance- lubrication and alignment- and the door closing/opening procedure was modifies as a result of ergonomic recommendations. Qantas Airline The airline is one of the most respected globally, in 2004; the airline was recognized as “Airline of the Year” by Air Transport World. The company transports over 30 million air passengers in over 140 destinations in the world. At one time, the company was concern with its internal “below the wing” industrial workforce safety performance (Wood, 2010). The airline was able to develop a safety program that blended well with ongoing safety management system of the airline; high cost operations, high risks were made the targets. In addition, these included cabin crew, ramp operations, catering, engineering and freight, and passenger handling. In the first year of implementation of the safety program, the total injuries in the airline dropped by half, while heavy maintenance injuries dropped by 70 per cent and the airline key performances measures started going up. The airline was able to sustain injury prevention and case management (Wood, 2010), and it “back to work” measures, made it possible to free up almost 50 full time employees that were available for work in any day and this made the airline cut down on hiring additional workers as they used to do before the safety management was implemented. The safety management policy has also reduced the use of toxic chemicals by 65 per cent, the airline still aim at reducing the use of toxic chemicals to 90 per cent (Wood, 2010). Currently, the Qantas airline has been able to reduce its workers lost time injury occurrence rate by over 70 per cent, also the airline has been able to achieve a 50 per cent decline in lost workdays among its employees. The airline has projected to save over 500 million dollars in associated non-value-adding costs, while the airline return on its investment is estimated to be 500 per cent as a result of its safety initiatives put in place (Wood, 2010). Conclusion Few airlines can survive consequences of accidents of their airplanes or even a serious incident which may take the aircraft out of operational services or damage the aircraft. Hence, most airlines have realized the importance of strong economic case for safety. 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