When Aviation Training Pays Off

While Safety Management Systems can differ, they all should provide a proactive, systematic, and integrated method of managing safety. Essential to the process are risk management analysis and assessment. The FAA calls such systems, "a formal, top-down, business-like approach to managing safety risk."

As the aviation industry becomes more involved in Safety Management Systems, claim professionals will need to be aware of how such systems function and have familiarity with associated best practices. The following are some key components of an effective Safety Management System:

Management vision, values, and commitment.

To make safety an on-the-ground priority for an organization requires a top-down commitment from management that is demonstrated through verbal support, dedicated resources, and active involvement. The process should begin with a formal safety policy statement that is developed and signed by top officials, followed by establishing short- and long-range safety goals that include clearly defined, measurable objectives. A budget and dedicated personnel should be earmarked to support safety activities, and management should indicate its plans to follow through across the organization. Only when organizational leaders make it clear that safety is as important as productivity and quality will the employees understand the seriousness of the message and the company's commitment.

Organization to keep a focus on safety.

Companies need to adopt an organizational culture that reflects their commitment to safety. This could include creating a Safety Steering Committee with the type of senior management involvement that can integrate safety as a priority into all business plans. Site safety committees can be established at each corporate and field location, led by a local top-level manager. To ensure a cohesive team effort, committees should encourage common goals, shared ideas for success, and local ownership of safety problems. Finally, a staff resource person or department should be designated as the gatekeeper for safety. The person or department should have technical knowledge in safety management, but should be viewed as an advisor to senior management, line management, and employees rather than as the "owner" of safety.

Line responsibility and accountability.

Safety responsibilities should be clearly defined for all managers, supervisors and employees. They should be written into job descriptions and safety manuals, as well as addressed during performance appraisals and operational reviews. Line managers should be held accountable for safety responsibilities including implementation of established programs as well as results. Among other things, they should be encouraged to always set a good example in terms of safe operation, conduct safety meetings with their units, and demonstrate they care about safety through their interaction with individuals. Positive reinforcement can include linking safety performance to bonuses, raises and promotions. Accountability is critical and can be encouraged by allocating loss costs back to department budgets as a controllable expense item.

Safety review and improvement process.

Safety in the workplace is rarely static; conditions change and so should measures to prevent problems. A good Safety Management System will include an auditing process that identifies, evaluates and creates controls for safety hazards and exposures as they emerge. Audits should be scheduled on a regular basis, provide thorough documentation for review, and include a follow-up procedure that incorporates feedback. In addition to regular audits, a process should be established to investigate all incidents, determine root causes and outline corrective actions. Between the audits and the investigations, a company will have a system that continuously monitors safety and shares risk control strategies across the organization.

Safe work practices and procedures.

By developing standardized work methods for each job, a company can identify safety hazards and document safety controls. Employees can then be trained to follow the safety protocols, which can also be used to identify root causes during incident investigations. In addition to job-specific safety procedures, general rules that apply to all employees, contractors and visitors can be developed and posted or distributed to ensure compliance.

Safety communications.

A large part of an effective safety management system is communications. A consistent message about safety needs to be communicated by all managers. They also should encourage two-way communications, providing an open door and a commitment to unrestrained dialogue about safety issues that come to their attention through employees. Communications should be meaningful – clearly connected to the job at hand – and timely. Often anecdotal success stories can be used to celebrate a positive safety record, while the results of incident investigative reports can be used to drive a point home about safe practices. Companies need to use a variety of communication tactics, including bulletin boards, company publications, envelope stuffers, phone messages, videotapes, e-mails and more. Different employees will absorb messages best from different media. Repetition will help key messages become memorable and ingrained in people's reactions to unsafe situations.

Safety training.

The safety training needs of all employees should be identified and addressed. Completion of training and refresher courses should be documented for each employee to ensure consistency. If an undesirable pattern develops by employees, who have been trained but continue to operate in an unsafe manner, then alternative ways of changing behavior may need to be explored. It is important that training be delivered by knowledgeable instructors who are competent in delivering material in a way that takes advantage of adult learning techniques. The effectiveness of training should be evaluated, and feedback – both from attendees and from observed differences in positive safe behavior – should be used to guide future training initiatives.

Post-incident management.

Despite all of the best safety measures, accidents can still occur. When they do, a company needs to be prepared to respond consistently and quickly with a post-injury or post-incident strategy. This should include documenting details of the accident, arranging immediate medical care if required, and promptly beginning the investigation that can lead to corrective action. In the case of workers compensation cases, companies that have best practices in place to control accident costs typically have partnerships with medical providers familiar with their operations, as well as a transitional duty program that will return an employee to work quickly in a capacity that is appropriate for their injury. They also have a designated point person to work closely with claim professionals, as well as a performance measurement system to track the trends for incidents, lost days and restricted-duty days on a regular basis.

By understanding the organized approach that Safety Management Systems bring to risk control, claim professionals will have an advantage as they investigate claims and probe for the strengths and weaknesses that each customer case presents. They will also be viewed as knowledgeable partners capable of adding value as they work with customers.

Although accidents can happen, an emphasis on safety management can make all the difference in the outcome, a message that claim professionals can drive home during their work with customers.