Newsletters

February 2010

February 2010

Welcome to the February SMS Newsletter provided to you by SMS Partners. In this month's newsletter you will learn about JDA's model SMS Manual and two excellent ways to determine the effectiveness of your safety program: Safety Culture Assessments and Key Performance Indicators. If you would like more information about any of these tools or if there is a specific SMS topic that you would like to read about, please send us an e-mail at info@jdasolutions.aero.

Safety Culture Assessments

Recently JDA conducted Safety Culture Assessments (SCAs) for two Part 121 operators. In both cases the operator had a completely different perception of what they thought their safety culture was versus what came out of the assessment. This ground-breaking service is available now to help management better understand and improve their companies' prevailing safety cultures.

Too often managers focus on solving safety issues solely by implementing macro and/or micro-level process and procedural improvements, the effectiveness of which can be negatively affected by various culture-related factors.

JDA's Organizational Development Specialists have developed a four-phase SCA process designed to improve safety effectiveness via enhancements in human error principles, understanding human performance limitations, communications, and the overall work environment. .

The SCA service enables the collection of quantitative data relative to prevailing beliefs, attitudes and behaviors toward safety. The SCA serves to identify:

Existing safety concerns within the company;
Perceptions that may exist toward the company's current safety posture;
Likely amount of resistance, if any, to planned operational change(s); and
How best to build the "human" into a company's mission, vision, values & objectives.

JDA's SCA four-phase approach consists of the following actions:

Employee Survey � Design, administer and analyze the results of an online employee survey that reveals prevailing attitudes and beliefs towards key safety-related issues.
Employee Interviews � Conduct both group and one-on-one interviews with front-line personnel as well as with supervisors and middle/senior management to gain an added qualitative perspective on the quantitative results of the employee survey.
Report / Briefing � Provide a written report and an in-person briefing on SCA results, including graphical data, analyses, observations, and opportunities for improvement.
Strategic Planning Session � Facilitate an onsite follow-on session with client management to help craft an action plan for addressing any identified issues.

Both Part 121 operators who recently had an SCA have been able to re-focus resources on areas that needed the most attention. A very senior executive of one of the operators stated in the final report presentation that it was the first time in his career that the money spent on outside consultants was worth it. He also stated that it was an extremely comprehensive and revealing report that would help them address their systemic safety issues. For more information call JDA today at 877-532-2376 or email info@jdasolutions.aero.

Model SMS Manual

JDA has a model Safety Management System (SMS) Manual that can be tailored to fit your organization's mission and size. The JDA SMS Manual is structured around the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) SMS process requirements as well as FAA guidance. The manual provides guidance, processes, and tools to personnel for managing safety and building on existing safety management capabilities. It describes the functions, components, and principles of the SMS and provides the guidance to apply them effectively. The first chapter of the manual is an introduction to the SMS. The remaining chapters are organized by the key components of the SMS:

SMS Policies
Organizational Structure & Responsibilities
Safety Risk Management (SRM)
Safety Assurance and Internal Evaluation
Safety Promotion
SMS Training

The SMS Manual also includes the following Appendices:

Definitions
SMS Forms
SMS Audit and Internal Evaluation Checklist
Alternate Audit and Internal Evaluation Checklists
Safety Culture Survey
Safety Policy Statements
SMS Training Curricula
SMS Phased Implementation Plan
Model Gap Analysis Form
Emergency Response Plan
Accident and Incident Investigation Plan
SMS Calendar of Regular Scheduled Events

Contact JDA at 877-532-2376 or email Dustin at dwilcox@jdasolutions.aero for more details.

Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measure critical success factors and provide management with a high-level snapshot of the organization's performance and safety posture. KPIs may vary depending on the type of organization. For example, an airport may have a KPI of the total runway overruns, while a KPI of a helicopter operator may be the number of emergency landings.

Before selecting KPIs, it is critical that organizational safety goals and objectives are determined. The SMS Pro� application has a Goals and Objectives module that can easily facilitate documentation of safety goals and objectives, regardless of the organization's mission. Once the goals and objectives are set, KPIs will provide progress towards these goals.

Applying KPIs provides aviation managers with a high-level, real-time view of the progress of a company. They may consist of any combination of reports, spreadsheets and charts. These reports may be near misses reported (global or regional), trends over time, maintenance information or any other long-term item that may be essential in gauging the health of the organization.

For a KPI to be of value there must be a way to define and quantify the KPI. Identifying KPIs in SMS Pro� is very easy. Managers don't have to spend hours digging up metrics. KPIs are managed in real time and are available 24x7 for management review. To add a new KPI in SMS Pro� only takes a few clicks and a new presentation graph can be prepared for management. SMS Pro� KPIs can be based on Types of Reported Issues, Root Causes, and Processes/Activities. After setting the KPI, charts are automatically created, based on existing data. The following image shows the SMS Pro� KPI function and resultant graphs.

To learn more about SMS Pro and its key features, click here.

For a demo of the latest version of SMS Pro�, contact Chris at chowell@nwds-ak.com.

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SMS Partners is a partnership between JDA Aviation Technology Solutions and Northwest Data Solutions. The combined expertise of these two organizations provides its customers with customized SMS solutions that will improve your safety record, keep you conpliant with regulatory requirements, and save you time and money. For more information, go to the SMS Partners' website.

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