So you are required to have a Safety Management System, SMS, by regulation. There is so much confusion as to what constitutes a good and continuously improving SMS. You look to hire an SMS Manager that knows all the intricacies and requirements of SMS that satisfy regulatory requirements. A really good SMS Manager has to have so many skills that it is hard to find the right fit. The trend in today’s world is to have services done for us. UberEats™, Carvana™, Freshly™and Randstad™ Staffing services are just a few examples of “services”provided to make our lives easier. What if you can hire a team of SMS experts to design, develop and run your complete SMS for about the cost of hiring 1 SMS manager.
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More Airlines and Airports are Contracting out SMS Services
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The BIG question is this:
Will the regulator accept this new initiative? The short answer is yes.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, dictates to the State countries what SMS requirments are needed to be passed down to the enterprises in their respective countries.
ICAO has already accepted “Airside Integrators” in ANNEX 14 for aerodromes. As long as the Doc9859 Audits requirements pass, it doesn’t matter how the enterprise achieves it. After all, the SMS system is the responsibility of the Aerodrome or enterprise anyway.
According to Dr. Fethi Chebil, PhD, Recognized ICAO Safety Expert, “A new trend to evolve is the emergence of companies dedicated to managing and integrating an airport’s complex safety systems, reducing its operational costs and ensuring regulatory compliance. Airside activities at airports are, of course, highly regulated and subject to a government enforcement process, and this has led to an ever-increasing number of airport operators successfully transferring the risk of regulatory compliance and safety to a new type of dedicated cost effective company – the ‘airside integrator’*1.
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| Privatized airports are turning to 'airside integrators' to help them reduce costs, increase safety and boost efficiency, writes ICAO sarety consultant Dr. Fethi Chebil. |
Canada: Just recently Transport Canada has permitted Kelowna International Airport to actually “Bid” out the SMS functions at their airport. A private SMS firm won the bid and is now running the SMS program at Kelowna Airport in British Columbia. As long as the regulations are met and the company can prove the SMS is effective, there is no reason why the company can simply hire out this intricate function of their system.
Canadian Aviation Enterprises required to have SMS, such as 705 carriers, can also take advantage of the concierge SMS. The concierge SMS provides a responsible person that will be the SMS Manager for the company and assume all responsibilities for the SMS. Transport Canada has stated, “…we are the concerned that the enterprise’s SMS meet regulatory requirements and is effective…how the company achieves this goal is up to them..” Jonathan D. White, ex-Transport Canada principle inspector. There seems to be a knowledge gap in the implementation of an effective SMS. Finding an SMS Manager that knows ALL the components and elements and how to actually apply them to make the system work is hard to find. The knowledge, Skills and Ability of the SMS encompass at least the following:
- SMS Manual Creation and Control
- Maintaining the SMS Database and Software
- Design and Develop SMS Procedures
- Monitor the progress of Safety Reports through the System
- Risk Assessments
- Daily Monitoring of Processes
- Facilitating Manager Meetings
- Facilitating Root Cause Analysis Sessions
- Training Personnel in SMS and Quality Assurance
- Tracking results of Quality Assurance Audits
- Management of Change
- Developing Safety Cases
- Monitoring the Progress of Corrective Action Plans
- Training personnel on RA, RCA and CAPs
- Developing and Maintaining a Hazard Register
- Developing and Maintaining a Safety Risk Profile
- Interfacing with the Regulator
- Conducting Investigations of Hazards and Incidents
- Representing and Interfacing SMS with the Customers
- Risk Assessing Sub-contractors and Vendor SMS
- Risk Assessing Changes in the organization
- Briefing Upper Management of the Progress of the SMS
- Continuously Improving the System
- Developing Key Performance Indicators
- Monitoring Trends using Statistical Process Control
- Monitoring Safety Performance Indicators
- ….and more
Keeping up with the rigors of running a complex SMS can be daunting to an individual. Contracted service providers can perform Inspection and maintenance, reporting and monitoring promoting continuous improvements. According to Dr. Chebil, “They provide a core team of inspectors, operators and on-site agents supported by internationally deployed experts using the most advanced safety and compliance management systems. • Cost effectiveness: As ‘airside integrators’ operate airside and SMS at airports across the world and own proprietary safety management systems, the development costs and the deployment cost are shared among a global network of projects and sites –everyone wins”
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| Concierge Safety Managment System Implementatio |
The advantages of contracted SMS are obvious: No need for hiring a person when you can get an entire team. No Human Resource headaches. No benefits packages, All costs are tax deductible, Upper management no longer has to worry about SMS compliance with the regulator….etc. Where can I find a contract SMS Service in Canada? DTI Training Canada Ltd. is one of the First companies to provide this service to Airports, for Annex 14 SMS compliance, and all aviation enterprises to meet the CAR107 requirements for SMS. DTI Training Consortium International can provide contracted SMS service to International Aerodromes and Aviation enterprises that need to be in compliance with Annex 14 Doc 9859 Requirements and ICAO SMS regulations passed down by the state to Aviation enterprises.
*1 Airport World/Nov-Dec 2018, page 35, Airfield Operations, "The next big thing?" article by Dr. Fedhi Chebil.
For more information or a FREE consult at your facility: dtiquality.com/concierge
Indeed a great share. I am totally impressed with all of these details. Well, I also would be going with the real estate text marketing service so that we are able to send the offers to our potential customers. We have already created the database of the contact numbers. I am sure that will be able to get good results with the campaign.
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