Safety Management as a "Hub and Spoke" System
We refer to a Safety Management System (SMS) as a "hub and spoke" system
where the "hub" is the core SMS and the "spokes" are the peripherals (or inputs)
that feed into the hub. Unlike stand-alone safety programs, an SMS addresses an
organization's safety system holistically and it all starts with
safety culture.
Safety culture can be thought of as the heart of your SMS. Without a healthy
and supportive safety culture your SMS will be pointless. You may have heard of
the term "Just Culture." A Just Culture is a culture in which there is a high
level of trust between management and employees. Employees should not be
punished for "everyday human error" where there may have been antecedent events
at the organizational level that actually contributed to the error. On the other
hand, a line is drawn where intentional violations are dealt with in a punitive
fashion. Unfortunately, many companies today believe that all errors are the
result of a careless employee and the solution is to give that employee a few
days off without pay or even termination. This archaic paradigm is one that will
not be congruent with a truly healthy safety culture; in turn, your
organization's SMS will not reach its fullest potential.
An SMS is built upon what is referred to as the Four Pillars of safety. These
Pillars are:
Safety Policy
(mandates, regulations, procedures, policies, etc.).
Safety Risk Management
(controlling the likelihood and severity of events proactively)
Safety Assurance and Internal
Evaluation
(internal/external audits, process analysis, etc.).
Safety Promotion
(communication, training, safety feedback, etc.).
The following figure shows the relationship between safety culture
and the Four Pillars:
Copyright 2010©
The Aviation Consulting Group
An example of the "hub
and spoke" system is depicted below. This example is most aligned with an
airline operation and thus the components may vary somewhat for other
organizations such as airports, flight schools, MRO's, etc. Notice that the SMS
is the "hub" and the various programs that feed into the SMS are the "spokes."
Your organization probably has many of these "spokes" already in place. What is required
is the ability to tie them all together into a formal, functional SMS.
Sample "spokes" in an airline operation
Line Operations Safety Audit
(LOSA)
Human Factors
(HF)
Crew Resource Management (CRM)
Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA)
Maintenance Operations Quality Assurance (MOQA) (Similar to FOQA but for
maintenance ops).
Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP)
Maintenance Error Decision Aid (MEDA)
Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS)
Other Safety Reporting Systems
Copyright 2010©
The Aviation Consulting Group
The Aviation
Consulting Group can assist your aviation organization in the development of an
effective Safety Management System...the holistic approach to safety. This
includes, but is not limited to:
Full or partial SMS program development
SMS training
HF training
CRM training
FOQA implementation
MOQA implementation
ASAP implementation
MEDA implementation
FRMS implementation
LOSA Implementation (flight
ops and maintenance)
Confidential error reporting system implementation
Safety culture assessments
SMS Course (3 Days)
COURSE NAME:
Safety Management Systems
WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Safety
managers, QA people, or anyone interested in developing, or increasing their
knowledge of, Safety Management Systems. We highly encourage people from other
industries to attend this course as the fundamental principles are very
exportable to other domains.
COURSE DURATION:
24.0 hrs.
(3 days)
TIME:
8:00am-5:00pm (includes a
one hour break for lunch)
WHAT TO BRING:
Laptop computer with Adobe Acrobat, WORD and PowerPoint
WHAT TO WEAR:
Casual
SCHEDULE:
On request at our location in Myrtle Beach, SC or on request at customer
locations worldwide!
FEE:
Click here to request a quote
INCLUDED IN COURSE:
- Coursebook
- CD with all slides and videos
shown in course
- SMS Manual
Template (to help create your own manual; most of the work has been done for
you!)
- Handouts
- Certificate of
Training
COURSE TOPICS:
- Introduction to
Safety Management Systems
- Policy
- Human Error Management in System Safety
- Safety Risk Management
- High-Risk Breakout Topic (Fatigue)
-
High-Risk Breakout Topic (Shift Turnover)
- Safety Assurance and Internal
Evaluation
-
Breakout Topic (Error Reporting Systems and Error/Event Investigation)
- Safety Promotion
-
Breakout Topic (Corporate/Safety Culture)
- Human Factors in Safety Management Systems
- GAP Analysis
-
Making the SMS Manual Yours
-
Numerous Case Studies and Exercises
