SMS Focus Group

 SMS Focus Group

By OffRoadPilots

A Safety Management System (SMS) Focus Group is a place with ongoing learning activities, assessments or events, virtual event discussion, or anything else in safety one can think of. Focus groups discussions tend to capture deep and more personal responses from consumers rather than purely quantifiable data. Focus groups can assist with identifying and analyzing hazards identified in the risk assessment process. An SMS focus group works well for consulting with workers and enable the collection of meaningful data on perceptions of their work environment. Some of the reasons for a focus group are to obtain more detailed information and insights into the importance of hazards, to better understand opinions and issues regarding the work environment, to establish a safe and open environment, or just culture, to express views, to provide a broad representation of diverse ideas and experiences on safety assurance topics, and to generate strategies and solutions for addressing hazards. A focus group may be closed and only available to members, or it could be an open focus group with transparency within a just culture. 

There are several responsibilities for the person managing the safety management system (SMS Manager). Two of the responsibilities of an SMS manager is to determine the adequacy of the training for personnel, and to monitor the concerns of the civil aviation industry in respect of safety and their perceived effect on the holder. Both responsibilities are achieved through SMS focus groups and acceptance of accountability. An SMS manager is accountable to the Accountable Executive (AE) and their conformance to regulatory requirements paints a picture of how well the AE perform their duties to be responsible for operations and their accountability level on behalf of the certificate holder for meeting the requirements of the regulations. 

Pre-SMS accountability was to hold someone accountable, or to find someone to point the finger at, and then punish that person. This old-fashion accountability principle was based on a concept that all systems were fail-free, that any system could not fail, and the reason for failure was simply that personnel deliberately ignored their tasks. A person causing an incident was considered to a bad apple within the organization. What was forgotten was that bad apples are bad because of their treatment, or lack thereof. The simplest way for a manger to identify bad apples, is to walk up to a mirror and take a close look at the person responsible. Imagine there is a box of apples in an uncontrolled environment, where the temperature varies with the day and night temperature. When you open the box, there are one or two bad apples on top. This is your root cause. In your opinion the root cause was these two bad apples, and the apples are removed. A week later you open the box again and there are several more bad apples in the box. This goes on for weeks and apple after apple are fired, or removed, until the box is empty. When all bad apples are gone the goal not to have any bad apples within the organization is reached. What was forgotten, was that these apples became bad because their treatment, or lack of treatment, and were not given proper treatment prior to be placed in the box. Apples are sensitive creatures, just as the human mind is a delicate operations system. When apples are picked, they must carefully be placed into the box, and the box must be placed in a temperature-controlled environment. Bad apples happens when an organization does not comprehend the system. 

Accountability is to bring solutions to problems, as opposed to complain and do nothing about it. As example, if a copier is not working, call the mechanic to repair it instead of complaining that it’s not working. Action demonstrates leadership and shows accountability. Accountability is to be proactive and do tasks required to meet a goal. Accountability is demonstrated by taking charge and being proactive. This does not imply that accountability is to do some one else’s job, or take on tasks beyond knowledge or capability, but it is to accept responsibility to initiate an action to solve a problem or remove a hazard. Submitting an SMS report could be the only action needed. However, if the hazard was Foreign Object Debris (FOD) on the ramp, then remove the FOD prior to submitting the report. Accountability is forward looking accountability. Imagine, if in the year 1857 you told the transportation experts that carriages will be travelling at 80 miles per hour in opposite direction and separated by only a painted line. Nobody would believe it could happen, because horses could not travel 80 MPH, even if 300 horsepowers were placed in front of the carriage. At a minimum, transportation experts would expect the carriages to be separated by a stone wall, or wooden fence. But 150 years later vehicles are travelling at 80 MPH only separated by a painted yellow line and the system works because of forward looking accountability. When backwards looking accountability is applied, harm has already occurred, and the past cannot be changed.  

 

Speaking up about problem areas is accountability and helps bring teams together to find solutions. A person who brings constructive criticism and solutions to the table shows character, personality, and leadership skills. One of the most difficult tasks of accountability is to admit personal mistakes and misjudgments, or to be included in an action which was a contributing cause to an incident. Accountability is taking ownership of actions and actions of the team supervised. If you made a mistake, admit to it and learn from it. Moreover, when mistakes are accepted, several doors open up with multiple paths for solutions. Accountability is to accept criticism. As a manager, if a team member tells you that goals don’t make sense, listen, and implement the goal-setting process. Another great example of accountability is to stay focused on achieving goals and tasks. Communication is another key to accountability in the workplace. Communication helps to establish goals and accomplish them efficiently.  Accountability is to communicate calmly, clearly, and patiently, and despite disagreements, demonstrate maturity and is a great example of accountability. Showing up is one of the greatest examples of accountability in the workplace. Suppose you don’t have any task to do as a leader. However, your team has several tasks to do to ensure the goal is met. If you’re not present on the floor to lead, you are not being accountable.

 

There are several benefits of accountability, from increasing collaboration, promotes performance, higher returns for a business, foster trustworthiness, cooperation, and responsibility. It ensures effective communication. Accountability makes achieving goals easier, ensures cohesiveness and enables the team to take on more responsibility. Accountability is also an ingredient of a just culture, where there is trust – learning – accountability and information sharing.  

 

An SMS focus group foster accountability, generates trust, instill learning, and is an information sharing tool. Activities in an SMS focus group is ongoing, at a minimum with a new task or problem presented monthly. In a large organization, SMS focus groups should be assigned into functional areas of operations. In a smaller organization, everyone in the group is assigned the same task. 

 

An SMS focus group task might be to analyze comprehensive statements such as the statement below: 

 

“An SMS is an explicit, comprehensive, and proactive process for managing risks that integrates operations and technical systems with financial and human resource management, for all activities related to operations, maintenance and flight following.

 

Practically speaking, a SMS is a business-like approach to safety. In keeping with all management systems, a SMS provides for goal setting, planning, and measuring performance. It concerns itself with organizational safety rather than the conventional health and safety at work concerns. An organization's SMS defines how it intends the management of air safety to be conducted as an integral part of their business management activities. A SMS is woven into the fabric of an organization. It becomes part of the culture; the way people do their jobs.

 

The organizational structures and activities that make up a SMS are found throughout an organization. Every employee in every department contributes to the safety health of the organization. In some departments safety management activity will be more visible than in others, but the system must be integrated into «the way things are done» throughout the establishment. This will be achieved by the implementation and continuing support of a safety program based on a coherent policy, that leads to well designed procedures.” 

 

An SMS focus group is an approach to conform to regulatory compliance. The approach might be to analyze a comprehensive statement, or a simple analysis of an identified hazard. An SMS focus group is a process to think outside the box, to comprehend the safety management system of an SMS enterprise and opens the doors for unlimited opportunities in aviation safety.

 

 

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