Evolution of Safety Management Systems

SMS have evolved over time from technical era to human factors era and then to organisational era. During the early 1900s to 1960s, it was the technical era where aviation arises as a mode of mass transportation where safety failures were originally associated with technical and technological issues and failure. Hence, lots of attention was on examination, inspection and improvement on technical factors. However, it was not enough as there were plenty of accidents that have happened. It can be seen from figure 1 that aircraft was only repaired or fixed when the parts are broken, this will definitely be unacceptable for today industry. It could be potentially fatal and dangerous as broken component in an aircraft can cause dire consequences and death. Moving on to the human factors era which was from early 1970s to mid-1990s, there was a gradual decline of aviation accidents due to extensive technological advancement and improvements with regards to safety regulations. From figure 2, it can be seen that after 1960s aviation has become a safer mode of transport since there was a significant decrease in accident rate. Hence, human factors issues were included into the safety endeavours. This has created a further research on safety information than what was created during the earlier accident investigation process. Although having investment on resources to alleviate error, human factor was still a persisting factor in accidents. The form of human factors depends on individual, not involving the operational and organisational conditions. Till the early 1990s, it was then confirmed that if an individual work in a complex environment, various factors may cause one to behave differently. Human factors consist of ergonomics, circadian rhythm and individual characteristics factors. From mid-1990s onwards we move towards an organisational era. Safety was being viewed from a systemic approach, which means to include organisation’s factors into technical and human factors. Hence, the idea of organisational accident was created to include the significance of organisation culture and behaviours on the effectiveness of safety risk controls. Furthermore, there were new approach to safety by collecting and examining former accidents and incidents. This new approach is for organisations to be more proactive in identifying risks and hazards to prevent any incident from happening. Therefore, the on-going safety management approach was formulated by proactive and reactive methodologies.

What different types of safety culture can contribute to the effectiveness of a SMS?

In order to achieve a strong SMS program by itself is insufficient, organisations have to cultivate proper safety culture to achieve a good SMS system. By definition, safety culture in the aviation industry is portrayed as showing the responsibility to safety, how people work in terms of safety when there is no supervision. Having awareness to this, safety culture would mean the commitment in achieving safety and SMS would mean the competency in achieving safety. Having commitment would be just a culture in contributing to effectiveness of a SMS, few other cultures would be safety behaviour, justness, information access and attitude, awareness of SMS hazards and risks and adaptability to changes and events. The relationship between SMS and safety culture is that SMS contribute by having the map, structure and guideline for safety success. Whereas for having safety cultures, it is the method to achieve safety success. Hence, in order to achieve efficiency and competency in safety, proper safety cultures must be cultivated into SMS.

Firstly, for commitment as a safety culture, organisations’ management must be eager to do what is needed to promote and boost safety; this will allow employees to learn and act the same way the management does. Both management and employees must have personal involvement and concern for the safety program and also knowing what type of investment is being made to the safety program. Commitment also depends on how invested the management from all the levels of a company for the SMS program are. Investment can be described in many modes; how much support is given from the higher management of the safety program, devotion contributed, financial investment for SMS, the approach of management for quality efficiency and safety preparedness and the amount of positive view for SMS that the employees and management give. All these are vital as some organisation might not have it due to upper-level managers being busy and under pressure to provide profit for the company. Hence, having strong commitment as a safety culture can contribute to SMS; greater safety awareness and behaviour.

Secondly, safety behaviour is a great safety culture in contributing to SMS. People might dislike SMS, but if employees adhere to the simple safety behaviour rules like guideline, processes and hazard reporting, the organisation will be much safer than someone who like the SMS but unable to adhere to simple instructions. Hence, the SMS will be effective if employees comply to the to proper behaviour with regards to the processes and procedures; better chances of operations running smoothly.

Thirdly, for justness it means that the management have to handle safety matters and employees reasonably; no biasness or unfairness. There should be incentives for people who contributed to safety enhancements, also management have to get everyone to be involved in group changes. Justness is a vital aspect as it generally shows the management attitude towards safety.

Fourthly, information access and attitude will be similar to justness, just that it refers to how management disseminate information. To achieve safety culture, management have to authorise access of safety data to employees. Safety information must be easily access and reliable for employees. Hence, safety information for SMS must always be accessible and detailed for employees.

Moving on, management and employees’ awareness towards safety matters is important. Having proper culture will allow all staffs to be aware of hazards and risk, also they will be continuously looking out for foreign hazards so as to expand their knowledge.

Lastly, adaptability to changes and events is becoming a very important culture for SMS. It means that employees must be able to perform the necessary act of a safety situation. Also, how fast they respond in alleviating risks and integrating new info and processes into their safety behaviour. Adaptability is being capability to be ready for safety events, it is an important culture in contributing to effective SMS.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even if reports have shown that accident occurred in aviation industry is low, it is still vital for all organisation to have a proper safety management system. Implementing and maintaining a proper SMS can be an arduous journey. However, if safety cultures and policies is well cultivated in an organisation, management and employees will be competent in achieving safety. Most importantly, if an organisation is to adopt a top-down approach, upper management can set example of proper commitment and safety practices for their employees. An accident occurred is still an accident, safety must always be the first priority. If everyone in an organisation are willing to work together, achieving proper safety and SMS will not be an issue.