Handbook

The global civil aviation system is categorised as an 'ultra-safe' transport system, where since 2013 the annual global air transport accident rate has averaged 3.42 accidents per million departures (ICAO accident statistics). The aviation industry has achieved its high levels of safety performance through a lengthy, extensive, highly regulated and crisis-ridden optimisation process, largely due to the lessons learned from incidents and accidents. Although low accident rates are a commonly used measurement of safety performance, a deficiency with this type of indicator is that over 90% of latent conditions and potential precursors to an accident are not evident or reflected in these statistics. Importantly, the absence of accidents does not provide an accurate indication of how safe a system is. Furthermore, as the air transport industry is exposed to unpredictable events rarely encountered before, such as risks associated with increasingly extreme weather, cyber-threats, regional conflict and the emergence of new aviation business models and technologies such as artificial intelligence, remotely piloted aircraft systems, urban air mobility and new propulsion systems. Now, more than ever, proactive and predictive safety management plays an essential role in reducing the vulnerability of the aviation system to not only existing threats, but to emerging and unpredictable hazards and risks.

Safety Management Systems (SMS) provide a systematic and structured approach to managing aviation safety risk. SMS is designed to monitor and continuously improve safety performance by utilising both proactive and reactive measures through hazard identification, hazard and error reporting, analysis of safety data and information, investigation, and the continuous monitoring and assessment of safety risks. The objective of SMS is to proactively mitigate safety risks before they result in accidents and incidents.

Through a combination of readings, case-based learning, and assessments, this course will introduce students to theoretical and practical perspectives of SMS in an aviation context. This includes the concept of 'safety', accident/incident causation models, SMS components, and safety culture. Students will have the opportunity to test their knowledge development and skills throughout the course and develop skills transferable to their own careers in aviation, and other high-reliability industries.

This fully online course is intended for professional flight crew, aviation managers, researchers, regulatory authority personnel, and persons who would benefit from a more complete knowledge of safety management.