How Proactive Compliance Oversight Helps MROs Navigate Industry Changes
Key Highlights
- Proactive compliance involves continuous monitoring, data analysis and early risk identification to prevent issues before audits or incidents occur.
- Organizations should start small by centralizing manuals, linking compliance documentation and building scalable systems for ongoing oversight.
- Data transparency enhances traceability, clarifies regulatory references and streamlines safety procedures, leading to safer and more efficient operations.
While compliance is key for MROs and repair shops in aviation, many organizations could improve their procedures by transitioning from reactive to proactive compliance oversight.
In a recent episode of the Aviation Pros Podcast, Justin Raymond—Director of Operations (Americas) at Web Manuals—shared insight inconsistencies and changes in the aircraft maintenance industry that make managing compliance more complex.
Why is compliance becoming more complex for MROs?
Discussing new complexities that MROs and repair shops face when trying to maintain compliance, Raymond shared, “If we look at it from a compliance standpoint, there are a lot of regulatory bodies that have a lot of involvement. Additionally, you see a lot of this technical data—large amounts of massive volumes of this technical data.”
Raymond highlighted some key aspects of ensuring compliance, such as:
- Providing traceability
- Integrating safety systems
- Coordinating across various operators
He continued, “All of that to then also have the OEMs and regulators essentially trying to prove: are you in compliance? Are you operating safely? Are you trying to do what you're essentially meant to do as an operator?”
“All while really trying to maintain your documents,” added Raymond, “We work a lot with maintaining documents and in that world, we see a ripple effect. We see when you're creating documents, how you're working with the regulations, and that then shows it to the rest of the organization.”
One challenge Raymond discussed was variations between regulatory bodies. He said, “I work a lot in the Americas. I see [regulations] from Transport Canada, the FAA, and we do work with EASA. Although those regulatory bodies might be similar in structure, they do have some different differentiating areas.”
Raymond listed a few of these areas, including:
- Document standards
- Training requirements
- Human factors
- Training requirements
Raymond elaborated, “With those MROS that might hold dual approvals, they have to over operate with overlapping compliance systems. This then increases administrative and procedural complexity.”
He added, “On top of that, you have all these airworthiness directives and mandatory service information. It makes it very difficult to keep on track when you're working with EASA, the FAA, Transport Canada, which really makes their life very complex.”
What is proactive compliance oversight?
Raymond said, “We are an industry that's been fairly reactive in the past, meaning organizations have really focused on passing audits. They’ve wanted to respond to findings from those audits, and then they would implement corrective procedures as a result.”
Raymond explained, “With proactive compliance oversight, we're now taking the approach that we're looking at the way the compliance is shifting, where our mindset is shifting towards that to continuous monitoring.”
“We're looking at data analysis now, at risk identification that impact day-to-day operations. It's really trying to spot what error could occur,” said Raymond.
How can maintenance teams start practicing proactive maintenance?
Reflecting on changes in the aviation industry—particularly in business aviation—Raymond echoed advice given regarding new guidance on safety management systems (SMS) for repair shops.
Raymond advised, “Start small, and build your way up. You want to make it scalable.
My recommendation is to take a look at your manuals. Start centralizing your manuals.”
Raymond continued, “Start looking at your compliance documentation right now. Start looking at linking them and building out a compliance statement or a library. You want to try to maintain live visibility into which manuals and procedures are affected by those changes.”
“By doing this, you're essentially giving yourself a head start,” Raymond elaborated, “You're looking at the compliance, the regulatory text you're writing into your documents. You want to try to monitor that. That's the first step that's going to drive you change in your organization.”
“Being ahead of the curve and seeing where those changes are applicable and where they're not applicable really helps give you a good baseline. From there, you can apply that to different parts of the organization, whether it be with your team or your culture or how you do task cards,” noted Raymond.
He listed issues MROs should consider when planning proactive compliance oversight, such as:
- How do we write it into our documentation?
- How do we push that to the organization?
- How do we prevent scrambling and losing efficiency from trying to be reactive?
Raymond also highlighted the importance of developing knowledge rather than relying on subject matter experts, explaining, “You ultimately want to look at reducing reliance on subject matter experts. You want to try to take that knowledge and make it across the whole team.”
He continued, “I've heard terms a lot where someone had a compliance sheet on an Excel file or someone left the company, and that goes out with them. So, have tools that enable your success. Have people that are ingrained into that process so that you can continue being safe and managing compliance well beyond just a single person who might leave.”
Why is data transparency important for proactive compliance oversight?
As Raymond shared how proactively managing compliance requires effective data management, he also highlighted the importance of data transparency.
Raymond said, “It really lets you clearly see which regulations apply to you and where they're referenced. If you're taking this legal text and then trying to translate it into how someone would understand it, you want to see where it's referenced at.”
“Transparent systems really strengthen the traceability between those regulations, between the legal, between the written text,” added Raymond.
He continued, “This helps maintenance programs, it helps with procedures, it really helps clarify the uncertainty and the unnecessary checks, allowing teams to operate a little bit safer and with higher value activities.”
How does WebManuals help with compliance management?
“Web Manuals is a compliance tool,” said Raymond, “We have a document editing tool and we have a distribution tool. One of our core aspects is our compliance tool, and in that we maintain regulatory requirements.”
Raymond continued, “If we're using FAA libraries, we're using FAA Part 135 or 145. Inside of that system, we'll maintain the library. Operators can then see the regulatory text. They can link to their live documents, and that's key.”
“You want to have direct connection to those documents so that you can maintain your compliance aspects,” noted Ramond, “So if a requirement changes, you're directly red-flagged inside your document. You know exactly where to spend your time and attention and vice versa.”
Raymond continued, “If you make changes in your documents, you might affect the regulatory text. So, we have a tool that allows you to manage that, and within that you're able to assign tasks to one another, generate compliance statements and mark applicability.”
“It's all centralized. It's transparent because then you can go directly to the library and see all your manuals that are being applied to the regulation,” explained Raymond, “And you're going to see the quality assurance aspect of it because you can maintain it.”
