The safety management system (SMS) is only the most recent in a long line of formal efforts to instill safety in aviation operations, safety specialists say, and they caution against viewing SMS as a system that emphasizes data above the human elements of creating and maintaining a just safety culture.
SMS is more flexible than most of the safety programs that preceded it, Wes Scott, consulting services director at the U.S. National Safety Council, told the CHC Safety and Quality Summit during its March meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
“Think of it as a pathway to continuous improvement,” Scott said during a panel discussion about ways of encouraging widespread use of SMS. “Figure out where you are, do what it takes to get to the next level, then start over.”
Graham Braithwaite, head of transport systems at Cranfield University, called SMS another phase in the continuing evolution of aviation safety.
“There was a time before SMS when there were cert…
