The FAA defines SMS as “a management system for integrating safety activities into normal day-to-day business practices.†Soon to be released is an ANPRM that has been designed to get industry reaction to the necessity for an SMS rule. Basically the FAA is taking into consideration an SMS rulemaking to “further enhance the practice of managing safety and oversight of that management; such an approach stresses not only compliance with technical standards, but increases emphasis on those management systems.â€
In this light, I have just read that the FAA has recently organized an Aviation Rules Committee to develop recommendations for a comprehensive SMS rule. This group has been charted through 2012 and initially stands at 12 members, but membership will grow as SMS is applied to various facets of our industry. So, here I go again – where will representation come from for the maintenance personnel on the floor?
SMS has been discussed as an all-prevailing development to the safety culture of operators and repair stations. Currently we are regulated by technical standards for products and services that have been developed over the years. These will not be replaced; however, a new system for addressing the management of the safety of these services and products will be established and regulated. It has even been mentioned that a new “Part†within the FARs will be created to accommodate SMS, folding in other components of the FARs that apply to SMS.
It should be noted that the FAA is under international directive to establish an SMS rule – so if you think this is just another minor challenge to every day business, think again. ICAO set January of this year for its member nations to adopt an SMS directive. Canada is the only nation in compliance at this time. (If any of our northern neighbors are reading this, you might want to comment accordingly for our edification as to how it is going.) Currently the FAA has no guidance or procedures in place to formally approve SMS programs and because of this there is real concern among international operators who are concerned with the overseas trend to criminalize accidents. You are aware that a Continental maintenance man and manager have been indicted in a French court for the Concorde accident a few years back.
If you agree that SMS (whether you think it is good, bad or unnecessary) will be a prominent issue in maintenance operations in years to come, then I don’t see how each of you can not want to get involved in having a say as to how this rule is written and enforced. The best way to do that is through a national organization that speaks for each of you individually and as a group. Not an association representing repair stations, nor a union representing parochial interests, but a “no axe to grind†group that embodies the professionalism, work ethic, morals, culture and every-day needs of individual technicians/mechanics.
