Safety Management Systems, Risk, Performance, and Regulatory - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Federal Aviation Administration Safety Management Systems, Risk, Performance, and Regulatory Strategies Presented By: Don Arendt, PhD, Senior Technical Advisor for Safety Management FAA Flight Standards Service Safety Management Federal Aviation 1 Administration

Safety “Safety is the state in which the risk of harm to persons or property is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable level through a continuing process of hazard identification and risk management ” ICAO Doc 9859 Safety Management Federal Aviation 2 Administration

Safety: Operational Definition “Safety is the state in which the risk of harm to persons or property is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable level through a continuing process of hazard identification and risk management ” ICAO Doc 9859 Operationally defined… “Safety” is How well risk is managed Safety Management Federal Aviation 3 Administration

Balancing the Priorities: Finding the “Hard Limits” Safety Decision Making Money Mission Safety Management Federal Aviation 4 Administration

Evolving Nature of Causality Safety Management Federal Aviation 5 Administration

So where do we go from here? For every complex question there’s a solution that’s clear, simple… …and wrong. H. L. Mencken Safety Management Federal Aviation 6 Administration

Safety Management: Core Processes SRM SA Description System System & Context Description Operation Information Data Data Hazard Acquisition Ident & Process Getting Facts Risk Analysis Analysis Analysis Making Sense Assessment Risk Perf. Making Assmt Assmt Decisions Action: Risk Corrective Problem Control Action Resolution Safety Management Federal Aviation Design Performance 7 Administration

Compliance and Risk Management Illegal Unsafe SMS No Risk Common Unique Cause Cause Compliance Effective Regulation Safety Management Federal Aviation 8 Risk Management Administration

Control Strategies • Regulatory Action (Required) • Formal Voluntary Programs • Collaborative (Defined Voluntary) • Promotion, Education, and Awareness Safety Management Federal Aviation 9 Administration

Regulatory Strategies • Prescriptive (“Compliance - Based”) – Typical for Common Cause Risks • Performance-Based – More flexible for Diverse Populations • Risk Based – Focused on Risk Control • Process Based (Blended Approach) – Prescribed Processes – Flexible implementation and specific performance Safety Management Federal Aviation 10 Administration

All Safety Rules should be “Risk Based” • Legislative/Regulatory charters directed toward safety – reducing risk • Defining the Risk • Compliance – “If”: Simple compliance (“letter of the law”) – “How”: Effective compliance (managing the risk) • Certification, licensing, approval processes must stress effective means of compliance Safety Management Federal Aviation 11 Administration

All Rules are Prescriptive • Rules, “prescribe” acceptable behaviors • Objective (“black and white”) • Address “ common cause ,” technical issues • Relevance to population narrowly defined • Lack of fit problems • Limited flexibility • Assumption of “ effective compliance ” Safety Management Federal Aviation 12 Administration

All Rules are Performance Based • All rules have expectations for outcomes • “Performance based” rules can be more flexible to variables in population • Depend on defining performance standards • Ultimate outcomes (accidents) are reactive • Immediate outcomes dependent on assumptions of causality • Measures and oversight strategy must not be overlooked Safety Management Federal Aviation 13 Administration

Safety Performance Measures : Challenges Everything that counts can’t [always] be counted… …everything that can be counted doesn’t [necessarily] count. Albert Einstein Safety Management Federal Aviation 14 Administration

Measurement Considerations • Performance of all types of approaches should be measured and assessed: – Defining performance – Validity of measures – Reliability of data – Qualitative and quantitative data – Classification systems – Trending Safety Management Federal Aviation 15 Administration

Traits of a Healthy Culture: High Reliability Organizations (HROs) • Preoccupation with failure (track small failures) • Reluctance to (over)simplify • Sensitivity to operations • Commitment to resilience (ability to recover) • Deference to expertise Weick & Sutcliffe Safety Management Federal Aviation 16 Administration

“Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk” Wilbur Wright, 1901 Contact: Don Arendt, Ph.D. (703) 338-7746 (Cell) don.arendt@faa.gov Wilbur Wright gliding, 1901 Photographs: Library of Congress Safety Management Federal Aviation 17 Administration