Career Advice for Aspiring Safety Managers

We often receive questions from aviation professionals who are interested in pursuing a career as a Safety Manager. This article should help to answer some of those questions.

Why do you want to be a Safety Manager?

There must be some motivation, or impetus, for you to want to get involved in this role. No doubt, you probably have a deep passion for safety and want to make a difference in an aviation organization. But keep in mind that while a Safety Manager can be a highly rewarding and prestigious management position, it does come with loads of responsibility, accountability, a lot of hard work, and most likely being on call 24/7. Make sure you’re in it for the right reason!

What is the role of a Safety Manager?

The Safety Manager is the focal point for the overall safety of an organization. In many cases, this includes implementing and/or managing the organization’s safety management system (SMS).

What qualifications do I need to be a Safety Manager?

From an academic standpoint, a college degree is important. A Bachelor’s degree is great; a Master’s Degree is even better. If the degree is in an aviation discipline (especially safety), this will further increase your marketability and ease of transition into your practical career (if you are seeking your first Safety Manager job position).

From a practical standpoint, a Safety Manager should have some type of management experience and a solid understanding of safety-critical systems within the context of an organization. Due to the fact that the Safety Manager’s job is “the management of safety,” the following criteria would also apply to the Safety Manager’s skill set:

• Professional knowledge of the organization’s specific operations and environment;
• Analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities;
• Inter and intra-organization project management skills;
• People-oriented skills such as objectivity, trust, fairness etc.;
• Communication skills, both written and oral.

What will be my role in the organization’s SMS?

As a Safety Manager, you’ll most likely be tasked with the implementation (or oversight) of the organization’s SMS. The Safety Manager is the focal point of the SMS; however, the Safety Manager may act more in the capacity of a “task assigner” to various departments in the organization. These tasks include corrective and preventive actions. Using an American Football analogy, I like to think of the Safety Manager as the “Quarterback,” and the various Department Heads as the “Receivers” and “Running Backs.” That being said, the Safety Manager’s role in the SMS (as the Quarterback) will include the following:

• Promote safety awareness within the organization;
• Ensure that safety management has the same, or higher priority level, throughout the organization, as any other management and operational processes.
• Manage all aspects of the organization’s SMS, including:
• Monitoring the effectiveness of the SMS;
• Initiating corrective and preventive actions when necessary;
• Providing safety reports on SMS performance on a periodic basis;
• Providing safety advice to top management and proposing corrective actions on safety related-issues as needed;
• Ensuring that safety-related documentation and records are available and up-to-date.

I have lots of passion and enthusiasm, but I am having a hard time getting my first safety-related job. What can I do?

If you’re still attending college, or if you’ve already completed your degree, and are having a hard time “getting your foot in the door,” you might consider an internship. Many colleges and universities offer internship programs with airlines and other types of aviation organizations. Even if you’ve been long graduated from school, you can still find excellent internship opportunities offered directly by aviation organizations on a global basis.

Although internships typically don’t provide compensation (some do), the practical work experience is invaluable. In some cases, the company will hire the intern, allowing opportunity for advancement to higher-level positions, such as a Safety Manager. I have seen this happen many times! Even if the company doesn’t hire the intern, the experience will be a terrific resume enhancer for other opportunities.

What else should I know?

As an aspiring Safety Manager, you should have a passion for safety, not just an interest in safety! It can be a very demanding but rewarding position. Learn as much as you can about safety; not so much from college textbooks, but rather from current, practical books and articles specific to aviation safety. ICAO Document 9859 is a good start. Knowledge is power. Read everything and anything you can!

Also, consider expanding your network of aviation safety professionals, create a LinkedIn? profile (if you haven’t already done so), attend some safety conferences and seminars, and ensure that your resume is professional and up to date; in many cases your resume will be the first impression of you, and if it’s rife with grammar and punctuation errors, it will likely wind up in the wastebasket. Your resume says A LOT about you! The same thing goes for cover letters.

Good luck!

Dr. Bob Baron?conducts aviation safety training, consulting, and program implementation for aviation operators on a global basis.

Sensitive and knowledgeable about various cultures, Dr. Baron uses his 34+ years of academic and practical experience to assist aviation organizations in their pursuit of safety and quality excellence. He has extensive experience working with developing nations and island countries. He also provides training and consulting to some of the largest airlines and aircraft manufacturers in the world, as well as civil aviation authorities and accident investigation bureaus.

If your aviation organization is interested in improving its culture, implementing programs such as Human Factors, SMS, SSP, or LOSA, or have an external, unbiased safety audit/Gap analysis, please get in touch.

Dr. Baron’s company, TACG, provides numerous training, consulting, and auditing services. For more information, please go to?https://www.tacgworldwide.com/TACG/Master-Course-List