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A pragmatic approach to the limitations of safety management systems in aviation

Malakis, Stathis ; Kontogiannis, Tom and Smoker, Anthony LU (2023) In Safety Science 166.
Abstract

Commercial aviation systems are increasingly stretched to their capacity while existing Safety Management Systems (SMS) do not live up to our expectations as higher efficiency standards are taxing human resources, higher competition levels are reducing the potential for collaboration and the sharing of risk data, and technological advances are making systems difficult to operate and re-design. Aviation systems become intractable, defying SMSs that could support prediction and control, and hence, are not amenable to compliance models of regulation. Instead, it is argued here that this ability can be developed by applying a pragmatic safety approach based on the identification of sixteen limitations of SMSs across aviation systems,... (More)

Commercial aviation systems are increasingly stretched to their capacity while existing Safety Management Systems (SMS) do not live up to our expectations as higher efficiency standards are taxing human resources, higher competition levels are reducing the potential for collaboration and the sharing of risk data, and technological advances are making systems difficult to operate and re-design. Aviation systems become intractable, defying SMSs that could support prediction and control, and hence, are not amenable to compliance models of regulation. Instead, it is argued here that this ability can be developed by applying a pragmatic safety approach based on the identification of sixteen limitations of SMSs across aviation systems, regardless of the theoretical perspectives and safety techniques adopted. A variety of data collection methods have been employed such as, analysis of incidents, interviews with safety practitioners, participation in group discussions and consideration of safety training. The proposed sixteen limitations of SMS can be useful in addressing these new challenges in the aviation environment by stressing the need for a new perspective in aviation risk governance.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Aviation, Boeing 737-8 MAX accident, Complexity, Knowledge management, Risk governance, Safety management systems
in
Safety Science
volume
166
article number
106215
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85163412501
ISSN
0925-7535
DOI
10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106215
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dce4891b-36ba-4f0c-a404-340b557ceb38
date added to LUP
2023-09-04 11:02:29
date last changed
2023-09-04 11:02:29
@article{dce4891b-36ba-4f0c-a404-340b557ceb38,
  abstract     = {{<p>Commercial aviation systems are increasingly stretched to their capacity while existing Safety Management Systems (SMS) do not live up to our expectations as higher efficiency standards are taxing human resources, higher competition levels are reducing the potential for collaboration and the sharing of risk data, and technological advances are making systems difficult to operate and re-design. Aviation systems become intractable, defying SMSs that could support prediction and control, and hence, are not amenable to compliance models of regulation. Instead, it is argued here that this ability can be developed by applying a pragmatic safety approach based on the identification of sixteen limitations of SMSs across aviation systems, regardless of the theoretical perspectives and safety techniques adopted. A variety of data collection methods have been employed such as, analysis of incidents, interviews with safety practitioners, participation in group discussions and consideration of safety training. The proposed sixteen limitations of SMS can be useful in addressing these new challenges in the aviation environment by stressing the need for a new perspective in aviation risk governance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Malakis, Stathis and Kontogiannis, Tom and Smoker, Anthony}},
  issn         = {{0925-7535}},
  keywords     = {{Aviation; Boeing 737-8 MAX accident; Complexity; Knowledge management; Risk governance; Safety management systems}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Safety Science}},
  title        = {{A pragmatic approach to the limitations of safety management systems in aviation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106215}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106215}},
  volume       = {{166}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}