CFR 135 SMS (Safety Management System) Program

Fly_Unity

Fly_Unity

Well-Known Member
I am looking at implementing (improving) our SMS program at our Part 135 company. I am looking for advice from pilots on what a good risk assessment form looks like. I dont want something that is just a hassle to fill out and hated by pilots, but a well thought out form that grades risk. Any sample forms or advice on what makes a good SMS program?
 
Maybe something easily accessible online with a digital signature would be more convenient for the crew rather than paper. Require an input before departure for each flight, not an approval, just an input requirement in your GOM. I suppose that wouldn't work if there was no cell phone/internet access at an outstation but it could be a good backup to any paper.
 
Fly_Unity said:
I am looking at implementing (improving) our SMS program at our Part 135 company. I am looking for advice from pilots on what a good risk assessment form looks like. I dont want something that is just a hassle to fill out and hated by pilots, but a well thought out form that grades risk. Any sample forms or advice on what makes a good SMS program?
Click to expand...

I'm currently working on rewriting a GOM and a Training Manual for an operator here and we're trying to develop one that doesn't suck too. I have been involved in this stuff for a long time up here and have seen a few great ones and a lot of garbage.

The best thing I've seen combined a dispatch form and risk assessment that worked as a flight planning tool. I'll ask that operator if they mind sharing theirs.

I'd be interested in seeing more of the problem space you're working in and what you've currently got and I'll see if I can't help out.
 
knot4u said:
Maybe something easily accessible online with a digital signature would be more convenient for the crew rather than paper. Require an input before departure for each flight, not an approval, just an input requirement in your GOM. I suppose that wouldn't work if there was no cell phone/internet access at an outstation but it could be a good backup to any paper.
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SMS isn't required (yet) by 135 nor is a risk assessment form, so you shouldn't even really need a signature. If you have internet everywhere you could operate to a web form could be great.

I've used Google sheets for the safety reporting part of SMS stuff before.
 
ppragman said:
SMS isn't required (yet) by 135 nor is a risk assessment form, so you shouldn't even really need a signature. If you have internet everywhere you could operate to a web form could be great.

I've used Google sheets for the safety reporting part of SMS stuff before.
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Nothing wrong with operating at a higher level than required with regards to safety.
 
This is all the risk assessment you need.
50004977-DBD5-41D2-9DC2-6FF6F9D2DF5A.jpeg
 
I took a dedicated SMS course once upon a time, although I have little real world experience in the topic, and the class took place a while ago, but if it should help you, in your stead I would dig into Advisory Circular 120-92B, I recall there being a few samples contained within, and the FAA breaks down the sections into small, medium and large air-carrier operations.

These books also contain worthwhile information regarding SMS subject-matter. Warning: they are not cheap, but there is good stuff written into them:

Safety Management Systems in Aviation
Practical Safety Management Systems: A Practical Guide to Transform Your Safety Program into a Functioning Safety Management System
Implementing Safety Management Systems in Aviation

The first two texts have whole chapters dedicated to explaining SMS Risk Assessment techniques. It is mind-numbingly boring material, but if you are going about the process of implementing an SMS, detailed explanations on analytical techniques would prove to be handy.
 
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So here, to me, is the funny/ridiculous thing about risk assessment forms etc.

US Part 121 carriers, probably the safest form of transportation in human history, don’t use a risk assessment form.
 
20 percent of your pilots are going to be the problem children and hate it no matter how "easy" it is.

The most important thing is to make sure that your risk assessment process matches your goals as a company and has real teeth when it comes to modifying or cancelling your plans. There isn't any point in knowing that a flight is high risk if you're going to regularly accept it, or worse, require it. If your 80% sees the process as useful then it will be used to good effect.

For audit purposes you're definitely going to want strong record keeping of the decisions made based on risk assessment. "Green" flights not so much but "yellow" should have some record keeping of the decision basis and if a "red" flight is accepted there should be a strong justification as to why and what limits and mitigations were placed on it.

As for forms I used, at various times, both Google sheets and commercial SMS software. For the most part it all worked well, Google sheets turns into a data mass nightmare after a while but if you have someone who's proficient with scripting then that can be managed. Even the commercial software isn't always easily manageable.

You will have to deal with the times where no connectivity is a problem. We included in the aircraft a sort of mobile risk assessment that could be filled out in flight or when out of contact and just had the requirement to file it in the system after the fact so that records were still kept.

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Roger Roger said:
So here, to me, is the funny/ridiculous thing about risk assessment forms etc.

US Part 121 carriers, probably the safest form of transportation in human history, don’t use a risk assessment form.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are trying to imply.... I did a year at a part 135 in Alaska, and the PIC had to fill out a risk assessment matrix before every flight. Beyond a certain threshold that I forget what it was, the flight would be cancelled because it is too risky. At the 121 carrier that I fly for though, our safety department runs quantative risk assessment probability equations on every route that we take, as well as every new procedure that we adopt...it doesn't stop there either, everything is continuously monitored and risk controls are perpetuously assessed. So yes it is true that 121 pilots must not fill out any forms, but that function has been replaced by sophisticated hardware that takes over such mundane tasks whereas a smaller part 135 operator will not have access to more expensive resources to run such programs.
 
Roger Roger said:
So here, to me, is the funny/ridiculous thing about risk assessment forms etc.

US Part 121 carriers, probably the safest form of transportation in human history, don’t use a risk assessment form.
Click to expand...
True, however, we go to the same airports over and over and a lot of the risk assessment is pre-completed before a flight is ever dispatched to that airport for the first time.

We have a company page in our jepps that tells us lots of things about the risks or going into an airport as well as how high risk that airport is.

It's built in.

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trafficinsight said:
True, however, we go to the same airports over and over and a lot of the risk assessment is pre-completed before a flight is ever dispatched to that airport for the first time.

We have a company page in our jepps that tells us lots of things about the risks or going into an airport as well as how high risk that airport is.

It's built in.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
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So do you see a risk score on your dispatch release? Does dispatch inform you that they’re canceling the flight due to a too-high risk score? My understanding is that that is not the case. If the flight is legal (to include company mins for “unique” airports) you pretty much go, unless the crew sees something concerning (MEL combinations, local wx patterns, etc) that dispatch missed, correct?
 
Roger Roger said:
So do you see a risk score on your dispatch release? Does dispatch inform you that they’re canceling the flight due to a too-high risk score? My understanding is that that is not the case. If the flight is legal (to include company mins for “unique” airports) you pretty much go, unless the crew sees something concerning (MEL combinations, local wx patterns, etc) that dispatch missed, correct?
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Each airport is assigned a risk level, highest risk airports are special training required and/or captain only landings etc.

Services are never an issue and maintenance is assured if we need it. Beyond that all we're looking at is weather conditions, we can't dispatch if it looks like we can't get in, beyond that it's a matter of in flight risk management between crew and dispatcher.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 
ppragman said:
I'm currently working on rewriting a GOM and a Training Manual for an operator here and we're trying to develop one that doesn't suck too. I have been involved in this stuff for a long time up here and have seen a few great ones and a lot of garbage.

The best thing I've seen combined a dispatch form and risk assessment that worked as a flight planning tool. I'll ask that operator if they mind sharing theirs.

I'd be interested in seeing more of the problem space you're working in and what you've currently got and I'll see if I can't help out.
Click to expand...


I'd love to see ones you said were good. I wouldn't steal or copy it, but just trying to get ideas and see samples. The problem we have, is that we are so diverse. Got several turbine Helicopters doing external loads and fire fighting operations, VFR single engine operations in rural back country strips, fixed wing Air attack on fire contracts, and IFR point to point Multi engine turbine operations. Hard to design something that is all inclusive. I finally decided that we have to split the rotorcraft into a separate sheet.

I am proficient in Google Sheets and can do limited scripting. So thats the direction I was going to go. But having a tough time coming up with ideas, so thought if I could see the ones pilots thought were good ones, it would help.
 
Roger Roger said:
So here, to me, is the funny/ridiculous thing about risk assessment forms etc.

US Part 121 carriers, probably the safest form of transportation in human history, don’t use a risk assessment form.
Click to expand...

Are you saying it is safer because they don't use a risk assessment form for the pilots? Or is it because they are not doing long lines from a helicopter, dropping water on a fire in mountainous terrain at high density altitudes, with gusty winds. Or a high pressure search and rescue mission where you are landing on a dirt strip with a tailwheel, bringing a search dog in the back seat to help locate a hiker who has family at the airport waiting for news...

We do and have cancelled flights based on a risk assessment score.
 
trafficinsight said:
Each airport is assigned a risk level, highest risk airports are special training required and/or captain only landings etc.

Beyond that all we're looking at is weather conditions, we can't dispatch if it looks like we can't get in, beyond that it's a matter of in flight risk management between crew and dispatcher.
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All of this other than having a dispatcher is more or less true of 135.
 
Fly_Unity said:
Are you saying it is safer because they don't use a risk assessment form for the pilots?
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No, I’m saying that hard no-go limits (already established by part 121/135 for IFR ops) combined with PIC discretion is a proven and successful method of ensuring safety, where the real utility of the various risk assessment doodads is demonstrably pretty minimal (how long has Hageland had risk assessment forms?)
 
Roger Roger said:
No, I’m saying that hard no-go limits (already established by part 121/135 for IFR ops) combined with PIC discretion is a proven and successful method of ensuring safety, where the real utility of the various risk assessment doodads is demonstrably pretty minimal (how long has Hageland had risk assessment forms?)
Click to expand...
There are forms and there is culture, you should endeavour to have both but if you can't, have the culture.


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