The Hindu Business Line : ICAO moots safety standards for aviation cos

Kolkata May 8 Managing safety should now be as much a part of running an aviation company as any other business process. Aviation companies should recognise the fact that effective management of safety is good business for them and reinforce the convention that safety management is a managerial business process, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

An article published in ICAO Journal states that today there is greater emphasis on proactive and predictive systems to manage safety. Aviation organisations should take definitive measures to ensure that the commitment to managing safety as a core business activity is recognised by all staff in the organisation. Staff members, too, must be made to feel comfortable in bringing to the fore safety-related information.

As part of its strategic focus on global civil aviation safety, ICAO has decided to support the implementation of safety management systems across all safety management disciplines in all countries.

ICAO is aware that while many countries and organisations have been involved in implementing safety management systems over the years, there were some discrepancies with regard to the key terms, concepts and hypotheses they appropriate.

Since 2005, ICAO has initiated efforts to harmonise these concepts and terms and to combine all its safety management guidance into a single, comprehensive document called the Safety Management Manual (ICAO Document 9859).

The next step was to develop common material to support training efforts in safety terms and concepts.

The idea is to "facilitate a harmonised global approach to the implementation of safety management systems", the article states.