Regulations and Exemptions

Q1.  How does a safety management system differ from traditional control methods?

SMS is a natural progression from traditional techniques, based on modern understandings of the nature of organizational accidents and how they occur. SMS has much in common with modern quality assurance practices, but places even more emphasis on proactive hazard identification and includes areas of the organization that may not be directly involved with day to day flight operations, but nevertheless have the potential to indirectly affect aviation safety.

One other notable difference is that while traditional safety and quality systems were managed at the certificate level - for example, having separate systems for Air Operators and Aviation Maintenance Organizations (AMOs) - SMS looks at the enterprise as a whole. While the majority of SMS activity will continue to be directed toward particular specialist functions, the system is also concerned with how those functions interrelate.

To a large extent, the effectiveness of SMS relies on the corporate culture. The aim of SMS is to achieve a culture wherein each individual contributes to and is responsible for safety, and where the reporting of safety concerns is actively encouraged.

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