SMS SUPPORT OPTIONS

The U.S. recognizes the ICAO requirement for States to establish regulations requiring certain service providers to implement SMS and has issued CFR's for part 121, 135, and part 91.147 operators. 

For part 91 corporate operators, the FAA recommends SMS, but does not regulate the program. To meet the ICAO SMS mandate, operators have voluntarily adopted and implemented SMS following the standard without FAA oversight or approval/acceptance. 

To date, their SMS standard conformity is "self-declared" and has been accepted by member states when inspected.

For Parts 135 and 91.147 operators must submit a declaration of compliance to the FAA that the operator has developed and implemented an SMS that meets the requirements of part 5, which is then assessed during routine surveillance.

In both cases, operators will need to determine their conformity to part 5 by audit, which can be  determined internally or by an experienced third-party. 

Third-party confirmation of conformity audits are not required by regulation or by ICAO, but beyond conformity can ensure your program is performing at the highest levels and providing benefits only an effective and robust SMS provides.

Since 2006, we've been providing DoC audits, safety performance assessments and management reviews that raise the bar in SMS effectiveness that far exceeds industry standards. 

Part's 135, 139, 121 and 91.147 are now required by regulation to adopt and implement an SMS appropriate to their size and scope of operations. 

In terms of implementation options, operators have three basic choices to choose from:

1. Self-implementation
2. Collaborative program
3. Turn-key program

Since 2006, we've assisted hundreds of small to medium sized departments make the transition to SMS by providing initial training, manuals and framework setup. That process gets the program implemented quickly and minimizes disruption and distractions to normal flight operations, while ensuring your SMS conforms to the standard and complies with the regulation.

Our collaborative program gets you to the starting line in about 124 hours. From there, you'll spend the next 12 to 24 months learning how to manage your SMS for maximum effectiveness with the caveat, the process never ends and evolves as your knowledge and SMS effectiveness increases.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel here, SMS is a performance based and standardized set of procedures, which gives operators maximum flexibility in how they achieve the goals and objectives of the program, which is ultimately, continuous improvement.

This program also includes 12-months of our SAFE program and Safety Officer Bulletin service.

This program was designed for small to medium sized flight departments who want to benefit from an effective SMS, but have neither the staff, training  or the time to do the level of work required. The SAFE program delivers the following:

• Your team sends us a digital FRAT/FOQA form each flight that is analyzed and tracked to meet SRM requirement of SMS.
• You receive IEP protocols each quarter that you perform and return which meets your safety assurance requirement of SMS.
• You receive a weekly safety officer bulletin that chips away at complacency that meets the safety promotion requirement of your SMS.
• You'll  have 24/7 SMS support when you need it for the life of the program.

We generate various documentation and reports that ensures your SMS is effective and benefiting your operation, including:

• Corrective Action Reports
• Safety Occurrence Reports
• FOQA trend monitoring
• Incident investigation
• Morale survey
• Safety performance Assessment

Thanks to technology, smart phones, video conferencing, this program is the equivalent of having full-time SMS manager on your staff without the cost or headache of adding personnel.

One of the most important components of your SMS is Safety Promotion, which keeps the focus where it belongs, on training and hazard awareness.

Using our weekly Safety Officer Bulletin service takes the burden of creating interesting, timely and concise safety training material off your plate and is the most cost effective way we know of to chip away at complacency. 

One subscription covers your entire operation, no matter how many employees you have. 

This service will also update your existing SMS manuals or provide them if you're just starting out. 

You will also have access to our FRAT/FOQA program where we provide you the digital form that you complete and send to us via your smart phone or ipad/computer for analysis and documentation. 

As with all of our programs, we are always available to assist you, answer your questions and provide any level of support you require.

The single most important thing you need to achieve an effective SMS is a deep understanding of how SMS works. 

The SMS standard is complicated and confusing for a reason, it was written by the "standards" industry, who gives new meaning to the phrase, attention to detail. 

For the vast majority of operators with staffing constraints, that complexity leads to low participation, underutilized and ineffective data collection and analysis, which ultimately results in a failed SMS.

The solution to that risks ? Drastically simplify your SMS. How exactly do you do that? For starters, use your smart phone as your primary reporting tool. Next, train your team to know what is reportable and what their responsibilities are. After that, your SMS manager needs some specialized training. 

For nearly two decades, we've been building, training and managing SMS programs and know first hand what works and what doesn't. 

Our focus has always been to provide initial and recurrent SMS training for our customers that makes the difference between achieving an effective SMS or a failed ticking time bomb. 

Some operators will have the staff and experience to self-implement the SMS, which can take up to 1380 labor hours according to FAA estimates. A more realistic number is 500 to 600 hours with our guidance.

SMS project management has a steep learning curve, one that can largely be avoided with the right guidance. 

The good news is, the guidance material is free and available online. The bad news is, it is easily mis-interpreted leading to errors, omissions and ultimately to disappointing results.

This project management option will get your SMS framework up and running within five days. Our PM methodology takes you step by step through the complex process of SMS implementation, in partnership with you onsite, then provides you a full year of our SAFE program, which will show you how to manage your program. (Most of our clients stay in the SAFE program post implementation).