Developing EASA Safety Management System - Relevant SPIs to meet the Business Objective to Monitor Safety Performance

Sofema Online (SOL)?www.sofemaonline.com considers the key aspects of Safety Performance Indicator oversight & management.

Introduction

Developing Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) that are compliant with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for an Aviation Safety Management System (SMS) involves focusing on best practices, identifying key areas of concern, implementing robust oversight measures, and defining specific training objectives.

Align with EASA Regulations and Guidelines

Please begin by making sure that your SPIs align with the appropriate EASA regulations and provide for effective integration with EASA Safety Management System requirements, which outline the expectations for continuous safety performance monitoring and risk management.

Create and maintain detailed safety policies that comply with EASA regulations. These policies should clearly articulate the organization's commitment to safety, the strategies for achieving safety objectives, and the procedures for managing safety risks.

Identify Key Areas of Concern

Performance targets should be regularly reviewed and adjusted to align with organizational safety objectives, regulatory changes, and industry benchmarks.

Focus on critical areas that have a significant impact on aviation safety. These might include:

• Flight Operations: Flight planning, compliance with operational procedures, and crew decision-making.
• Ground Handling and Ramp Safety - Implementing procedures for the safe movement, parking, and servicing of aircraft, including using ground support equipment (GSE) that must be maintained to prevent accidents.
• They ensure that all baggage, cargo, and mail are appropriately documented, loaded, unloaded, and transferred, following strict guidelines to maintain the aircraft’s centre of gravity within specified limits.
• Ramp Inspections include detailed inspections of ramp operations to ensure adherence to safety protocols and identify potential risks.
• Prepare and regularly update emergency procedures and conduct drills with ground staff to ensure readiness in handling emergencies.
• Aircraft maintenance standards, timely completion of scheduled checks, and management of maintenance errors.
• Implementing rigorous quality control measures ensures that all maintenance activities meet or exceed safety standards. Regular audits and checks are performed to uphold these standards.
• They are implementing Reliability systems to continuously monitor the condition of aircraft components, identifying potential issues before they fail.

Develop Best Practice SPIs

Implement best practices in developing SPIs by ensuring they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound):

• Leading Indicators: For example, the number of safety audits completed, staff training levels, and pre-flight checklist compliance.
• Lagging Indicators: For example, the number of safety incidents reported, downtime due to maintenance, and incidents of non-compliance with air traffic instructions.

Implement Oversight Measures

• Establish robust oversight mechanisms to ensure continuous monitoring and compliance.
• Conduct periodic safety audits both internally and through third-party organizations.
• Establish mechanisms for collecting and analyzing feedback from all stakeholders, including crew, maintenance personnel, and air traffic controllers.

Define Training Subject Objectives

Define clear training objectives that focus on risk awareness and management.

• Training staff to identify, assess, and mitigate risks.
• Ensuring all personnel are up-to-date with current EASA regulations and standards.

Set Benchmarks and Performance Targets

Could you align your safety targets with industry benchmarks and regulatory expectations? Regularly review and adjust these targets to continually challenge the organization to improve its safety performance.

Examples of Performance Targets (note examples are for discussion only)

Flight Operations -?Pre-flight Checklist Compliance: Aim for a 100% compliance rate with pre-flight checklists by all flight crews.

Crew Decision-Making Training: Achieve a 95% completion rate annually for training programs focused on decision-making and situational awareness for flight crews.

Flight Planning Accuracy:?Maintain a target of fewer than 0.5% flight plan deviations due to planning errors per year.

Ground Equipment Incidents:?Reduce ground equipment-related incidents by 10% year-over-year.

Baggage Handling Errors: To improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, maintain baggage mishandling at less than 3 per 1,000 passengers.

Ramp Safety Inspections: Monthly safety inspections of ramp operations, aiming for zero non-compliance findings.

Scheduled Maintenance Compliance: Ensure 100% adherence to the planned maintenance timeline, with no overdue maintenance tasks.

Reduce maintenance errors?by 15% year-over-year through improved training and oversight.

Reliability of Aircraft Components:?Increase component reliability by 5% annually, as measured by mean time between failures (MTBF).

Safety Compliance Audit Completion: Complete all planned internal and third-party safety audits with no significant findings unresolved.

Incident Reporting Rate: Increase the reporting rate of safety incidents and near-misses by 20% through enhanced reporting systems and staff training, aiming for improved transparency and risk management.

Audit Finding Closure Rate:?Achieve a 90% closure rate on safety audit findings within 90 days of identification.

Risk Management Training:?Ensure that 100% of relevant personnel complete risk management training annually.

Regulatory Training Compliance:?Maintain a compliance rate of 100% for mandatory regulatory training across all personnel.

Safety Culture Surveys: Conduct annual safety culture surveys to improve scores by 10% year-over-year based on employee feedback on safety practices and management support.

Feedback Implementation Rate:?Implement at least 80% of operational safety improvement suggestions collected from employee feedback annually.

Next Steps

For ICAO and EASA Compliant Safety Management System Training available as Classroom, Webinar or Online Training, please see www.sassofia.com ?or?www.sofemaonline.com for more information, comments or questions,?don't hesitate to get in touch with?[email protected]