FAA vs. Transport Canada SMS Comparison Snapshot

For those of you that just want to know the basic difference and similarities between the Safety Management Systems first implemented by Transport Canada and just recently mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States. Both mandates require Certificate Holders' to gain and maintain "Control" of all their processes.


FAA                                                                                                        TRANSPORT CANADA

             

FAA                                                                                             TRANSPORT CANADA

4 Components                                                                            6 Components

12 Elements                                                                              17 Elements

17 Processes

Assessment through Expectations                                            Assessment through 

(Divided into 4 levels)                                                                Expectations for each 

                                                                                                   Element

If you look at the overviews of both systems, you will see that almost all the requirements are the same. Some of the most obvious difference are the following:

The FAA does not separate Emergency Preparedness and the FAA Component 3.0 is called Safety Assurance which essential is Quality Assurance. There are many other correlations that I will go into detail in future blogs. If you are a certificate holder in the United States or Canada it is clear that  you must gain control of your processes and institute a system of continuous improvement. A good beginning is training and practical examples of implementation. You can get that from dtitraining.com. A good tool to get is the Safety Management System Memory Jogger available at dtitraining.com. 

What are you thoughts......