‘Attention to preferred languages, local culture and persuasive modeling has helped Switzerland move to the forefront in national implementation of safety management systems (SMSs), says Peter Müller, safety analyst technical, Safety Risk Management, Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA). Müller led the core team that implemented the FOCA SMS and champions SMS in the nation’s aviation industry. He explained the key steps at Flight Safety Foundation’s International Air Safety Seminar in Milan, Italy, in November 2010.
In the context of four crashes within a relatively short period, the Swiss Ministry of Transport contracted with the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) to conduct an in-depth analysis of the nation’s aviation system that resulted in a final report in mid-2003. “Just two of the 28 recommendations are still outstanding,” Müller said. “NLR recommended that the Swiss government develop a national safety policy, which was done, and progress furt…
