Safety management systems (SMS) have been required by many state regulatory agencies for years now. This is in compliance with the standards and recommended practices (SARPs) established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Non-punitive policies that encourage open reporting of safety issues are crucial to an effective SMS. But the implementation of non-punitive policies has had mixed results for a variety of reasons.
Many states have established voluntary reporting processes that they say are non-punitive. However, it is important to understand the context. In some of these voluntary programs, information received by the regulatory authority must be assessed against regulatory requirements. If a violation of civil aviation code exists, the information is processed through normal means, which often results in a punitive action against the report submitter. Only when no violation of aviation code is identified can a report submitter be assured that the information w…
