Safety, Quality & Risk Assurance

Good systems are transparent and give Regulators, Airline Management and Staff assurance that the system design and engagement of its participants is functioning well.

A sound FRMS has a systems framework upon which the elements of assurance operate. These include audit, investigation, risk reviews, reporting and feedback.  The framework is supported by safety culture initiatives such as good communications, data based decision making, Just & Fair organisational culture, respect and concern, feedback and praise and encouragement.

Periodically, appropriate fatigue studies should be conducted and data collected, analysed and fed back to employees to assure all stakeholders that the system is working and overall alertness is as expected. The ICAO guidelines offer some examples of relevant processes

Fatigue is but one risk to be managed in any operation so, a robust FRMS will integrate seamlessly into the organisation’s Safety Management System as recommended in the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practice paragraph 4.10.7

FRMSc are experienced scientists, airline operational managers and safety, quality and risk specialists who have worked and built an SMS/FRMS in airlines. Please contact us to discuss how we can show you how to approach the creation and integration of an FRMS assurance process within your Safety Management System.

Communication and Promotion

Every celebrity knows that public interest wanes if no one talks about them. To keep FRMS or any other topic alive in an organisation, stakeholders must ensure frequent communications paying particular attention to content and the media used.

Content

Content should be encouraged from all stakeholders; peers, managers, employee representative groups, the safety department and executive management. The purpose is to publicise commitment, progress and illumination of facts that will help all stakeholders reinforce good behaviours. These will encourage the development of a learning and safety culture that leads to better organisational performance

Announce initiatives before they happen. Feedback the results of audits, investigations, risk reviews, FOQA and the fatigue studies of problematic routes.  Engage stakeholders with important, data driven information that is irrefutable and takes any inherent emotion out of a subject. More, make communications regular, factual, genuine and engaging.

Media – know your audience

The stakeholder community is not homogenous so each piece of communication has to be written specifically to engage with each segment of the audience – just as editors of newspapers do.

Comedy is a serious business and the great Irish comedian Frank Carson puts his success down as “it’s the way I tell ‘em, t’be sure” emphasising that the medium of communication is as essential as the content for each stakeholder group. There is a whole gamut of internal communications media to be used: pick the right one for each target audience and tailor the message to fit the medium.

FRMSc are experienced marketers, scientists, operational managers and ex-union staff. We understand each stakeholder group so contact us to discuss how we can assist with your promotional programme.