Industry Representatives Tout SM ICG Products at Cologne 'Industry Day' Event

For the sixth time, the Safety Management International Collaboration Group (SM ICG), a group of 16 aviation regulatory bodies, held its semi-annual Industry Day event with representatives from 41 European aviation industry organizations on May 22, 2015 in Cologne, Germany. This event marks the third opportunity for European aviation service providers to hear directly from authorities that are working together and to provide feedback on SM ICG products. Pascal Kremer, Airline Safety Manager at Luxair, described how his organization has used and integrated six SM CG products into its SMS operations, "[They] helped us get a better understanding of SMS, develop our procedures, and add credibility to our work with management, auditors, and the national aviation authority. We adapted the content to our own operations.” The full day session, hosted by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), included nine industry presentations and an open discussion on Safety Management Systems (SMS) training.

The SM ICG was established in 2009 to promote a common understanding of safety management principles and requirements, facilitating their application across the international aviation community. Since its formation, the group has published many products and several have been translated into French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. In recent years, the SM ICG has increased outreach to the greater international aviation community. The Industry Day event has been so well received in Europe that organizers received twice the offers to present than the meeting agenda could accommodate. The inaugural Industry Day event was held in Ottawa, Canada in 2012 and the four subsequent ones were held in The Hague, Netherlands, Seattle, Washington, USA, Bern, Switzerland, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Jean-Marc Cluzeau from the Strategy and Safety Management Directorate at EASA welcomed participants saying, "Safety promotion and training are key issues and we are working on these...We are eager to work with [industry] and learn from your safety management experience from the field. We know you will continue to inspire use on this SMS journey.” After opening remarks, Simon Roberts, United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA) SMS Programme Manager and Chair of European Human Factors Advisory Group, gave an overview of the SM ICG and its work. Industry representatives (Pascal Kremer, Luxair; Giancarlo Buono, International Air Transport Association (IATA); Jorge Leite, TAP Portugal; Richard Hol, Transavia; Claire Pelegrin, Airbus; Patrick Pezzatini, Airbus Helicopters; Raquel Mercedes Martinez Arnaiz, FerroNATS; Keven Baines, Baines Simmons; and Alfred Roelen, University of Amsterdam) presented their experiences with SMS training. Industry Day speaker biographies and all presentations are available for download at the bottom of this page.

Industry Day participants discussed SMS training in their organizations. Topics included the need to train both service providers and regulatory inspectors, competencies and the importance of creating training specific to organizational roles and processes, training methods, the need to customize training for each organization, how consistent training provides shared perspective, preparing the learner by setting expectations for post-training performance, SMS education in academia, and the importance of educating managers from the beginning. Gian-Andrea Bandieri summed up the event’s importance, "The intent of SM ICG documentation is understood and organizations are adapting products to suit their needs.” Edmund Bohland, Deputy Head of the Policy and Planning Department at EASA, and current SM ICG Chair, thanked industry participants and concluded, "We heard excellent presentations today that are in line with SM ICG work priorities. We have an inspector competency and training project underway and this dialog provided great input. We hope to continue to work together in our efforts to improve aviation safety."

Briefing Abstracts and Industry Presenter Biographies

Pascal Kremer

Airline Safety Manager, Luxair How SM ICG Materials Can Be Used/Integrated into an Airline’s SMS Operation Abstract: The presentation will show how documents and information produced by the SM ICG can be used to enhance an operator's safety management system (SMS). It will show some best practices of SMS real life implementation.

Bio: Pascal Kremer, Airline Safety Manager at Luxair, is master of aviation Safety management with distinction, and a captain and instructor on Embraer 145. He is chairman of the European Regional Airline Association Air Safety Advisory Group and a member of the Flight Safety Foundation European Advisory Committee and the Plenary Committee of the European Commercial Aviation Safety Team (ECAST). He is also a consultant to the Luxembourg Aviation Safety Agency, mainly providing courses on SMS and State Safety Programme (SSP).

Giancarlo Buono

Regional Director Safety and Flight Operations, Europe, International Air Transport Association (IATA) SMS Training-Operator’s Challenges Abstract: The challenges that Operators are facing with regards to implementing SMS Training throughout the globe. Bio: Capt. Giancarlo Buono is the Director of Safety and Flight Operations for Europe at IATA, based in Brussels, Belgium. In this function, he is responsible for the delivery of IATA Safety and Flight Operations Strategy in Europe and for the liaison with European Regulators, the European Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on issues relating to air transport Safety and Flight Operations. His professional expertise consists of extensive flight operations and quality-safety management experiences. With 24 years of experience in the Air Forces and Airline industry, he is currently qualified as a Captain on the Airbus A-320 family. He holds a Masters of Science Degree in “Air Transport Management“ from London City University and has been involved in a number of international Safety and Quality developments programs. He is qualified as an Accident Investigator and as an IATA and ISO Quality and Safety Auditor. He has received formal training in Human Factors and Crisis Communication. Capt. BUONO is a visiting professor in Airline Regulatory Compliance at London City University and in Safety Management at Geneva University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Jorge Leite

Vice President Quality and Safety, TAP Portugal, TAP Maintenance & Engineering Delivering SMS Training in an MRO Organization Abstract: This presentation will show how TAP Maintenance & Engineering (an EASA Part 145, M, 147 and 21J Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) organization within TAP Portugal, an EASA Air Operations Air Operator Certificate (AOC)) has organized, prepared and delivered SMS training so far. I will detail how we have been using SM ICG material, as well as SKYbrary, ECAST, and other sources, and how that has been helpful to address our needs. Bio: Jorge Leite is a Mechanical Engineer from Lisbon University. He joined TAP Portugal in 1986, starting his aviation career as a repair engineer at the Engine Shop, before becoming a CFM56 powerplant specialist and chief engineer. In 1995 Jorge became an Engine Shop Production Manager, later assuming other management positions as Engineering & Quality Manager and Commercial Director. In 2004 Jorge was appointed Director of Quality for TAP Maintenance & Engineering and later Vice President Quality and Safety. He chairs the Engineering & Maintenance Subcommittee of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in Brussels and represents AEA in the SSCC (Safety Standards and Consultative Committee) and ECAST at EASA in Cologne. He represents TAP Maintenance & Engineering in the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA). Jorge was born in Lisbon. His aviation activity extends well outside TAP Portugal. He has been a lecturer in the Air Force Academy and several Flight Schools, teaching Aerodynamics and Flight Performance, and currently teaches Quality and Aeronautical Regulations at Lisbon University. Jorge holds a Private Pilot License.

Richard Hol

VP Safety & Quality Assurance, Transavia SMS Training at Transavia Abstract: The presentation has two main components. The first is about how SMS-training is conducted at Transavia and the second topic is about our new safety strategy which is currently under development. Safety competences is considered as an important factor to fulfill the new strategy. Will share some thoughts about that. Bio: After finishing the Royal Military Academy in Breda in 1983, Richard Hol began his career as a technical officer in the Royal Netherlands Airforce. He held several positions at operational and staff level. In 1992 Richard graduated as an aerospace engineer from Delft University of Technology. In 2000, he left the Royal Netherlands Airforce for transavia.com and became Director of Engineering, where he held this position till January 2013 before moving to his current position of VP Safety & Quality Assurance.

Doctor Claire Pélegrin

Senior Director Human Factors & Safety Management System, Airbus Product Safety Corporate Strategy to Define Competences & Appropriate Trainings Abstract: Presentation will focus on the Airbus strategy to define training for SMS. We are a single company with several aviation approved organizations (Design Organization Approval (DOA), Production Organization Approval (POA), Maintenance Organization Approval (MOA), CAMO, Approved Training Organization (ATO), and Maintenance Training Organization (MTO)). We have to ensure consistency of SMS between all these approved organizations. The corporate approach is to define n SMS framework for our company and how it will work (using current Airbus business management). We use the methods applicable to any job, competence and skills within Airbus. The first step is the description of the activity of a given population like SMS managers and then we define the competence and skills needed to perform their tasks. The last step is the definition of training needs and training content. This will be used every year during annual interview to identify the level of a person on a set of competence and skills and thus decide training required to help him/her to gain the appropriate level. Bio: Doctor Claire Pélegrin joined Airbus in 1988 and started within the flight operations and training division and was responsible for training policies and the development of courses such as Human factors, Crew Resource Management, and Teaching techniques. In 2005 she spent 1 year as an advisor to the Head of human resources (HR) in the field of human factors, learning from errors and reporting mainly in manufacturing environment. She joined the Product Safety department in 2006 being the human factors expert in accident prevention and investigation and in charge of the Airbus Corporate Safety Management System. As a human factors expert, she participates in most of the investigations involving an Airbus aircraft. She is member of the Airbus Human Factors group and represents Airbus in the EASA Human Factors Advisory Group and participates in ICAO SMS working groups. Her background is psychomotor skills, cognitive psychology and she holds a PhD in sociology (from standard to practices amongst pilot population worldwide).

Patrick Pezzatini

SMS Corporate Safety Risk Manager, Aviation Safety Directorate, Airbus Helicopters SMS Training, Airbus Helicopters’ Approach Abstract: I would like to present the Airbus Helicopters (AH) strategy to deploy the SMS within the group, the role of the Aviation Corporate Safety Management System manager, and the links with all the SM of the safety network, how we have created our internal SMS training and how it is deployed. Bio: Patrick Pezzatini served 18 years in the French Air Force (1987-2005, 4100 Flight Hours), qualified as a Transport Pilot and Helicopter pilot, became qualified in Search and Rescue and Combat Search, Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), Flight instructor, Chief-pilot, Head of Flight operations and Flight Safety Officer. He has worked for Airbus Helicopters since November 2005 as Head of Flight Operations in the Flight Test Department. He joined the Fleet Safety Department in January 2009 to be SMS manager of Eurocopter Training Services (Marignane ATO) until the end of 2012. Since 2013, he has been an Aviation Safety Corporate Risk Manager and member of the SMS implementation project team. He is also a member of the Member of the European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) SMS and Specialist Team (ST) Operations subgroup.

Raquel M. Martínez Arnáiz

Directora de Seguridad Operacional, FerroNATS Safety and Training – FerroNATS Strategy to Manage Safety Through Training Abstract: Safety and training are closely intertwined: only well trained and competent personnel can ensure a satisfactory safety performance; and safety improvement can only be achieved through recurrent and refined training of the front line personnel. FerroNATS has the strong believe that training is key to ensure an excellent safety performance and as such has developed several strategies to ensure that safety improvement is identified and fed back into the system through training. Our contribution to the SM ICG will focus on these strategies and how they relate to FerroNATS SMS. Bio: Raquel Martínez is FerroNATS Safety Director and as such is responsible for the definition and deployment of a strategy to proactively and systematically manage safety. In addition, she is responsible for the development and maintenance of the SMS. She is also an Air Traffic Controller and has experience as an On-the-Job Training Instructor (OJTI). Raquel Martínez graduated in Physics in 2005 and obtained a PhD degree in Astrophysics in 2011. She has a scientific background with a proven record of scientific publications and presentations in international conferences and congresses. Before joining FerroNATS, she worked as a researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the largest university in Spain, and Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), the National Meteorology Agency.

Keven Baines

Managing Director, Baines Simmons Managed Competence, a Key Enabler for Safety Performance Abstract: What might a managed competence programme look like? There is obviously a difference between an SMS and the management of safety. Most aviation organisations have successfully built an SMS, but many have yet to fully realise the benefits in terms of the management system capability, that of organisation-wide risk based decision making. People and the role they play in safety and its management remain one of the primary enablers to safety performance. As such Keven will contend that safety training should not be viewed as a technical training challenge; this is a hearts and minds switch-on programme, classroom change agency, rather than training. In fact, if treated as a technical training activity this phase will prove expensively unsuccessful at delivering safety performance. Such a programme has to begin with the Executive and Senior Management team. From recent extensive, positive experience, Keven will share a framework and illustrated practical examples that has enabled executive and senior aviation organisation leaders to practically and actively lead safety, possess a common framework and language for safety risk management, buy into the need to manage safety, differently, and as a result is competent to play their part in protecting the business, its people and customers (etc.) from harm, exhibits the desired safety behaviours and above all are competent to make risk based decisions to the levels necessary for their role. Finally Keven will share a framework and approach for the remaining staff safety competence development that flows from the executive-led safety management ‘power-up’ to performance. Bio: Keven is passionate about aviation safety and is a co-founder of Baines Simmons. He now leads our work in developing corporate safety management performance improvements with boards and senior management teams in large complex market leading aviation organisations around the world. Keven's safety expertise and approach has inspired many hundreds of the world’s leading aviation organisations to advance their safety cultures and safety competence to improve overall aviation safety. He has designed and delivered consulting, training and safety implementation programmes for organisations in both civil and military sectors and has trained thousands of safety professionals. He has been a member of many industry working groups for the advancement of human factors in aviation safety management. In 2008 Keven was the proud recipient of the Royal Aeronautical Society Human Factors Practitioners Award. As Board Advisor, Keven focuses on organisation-wide, people centric safety programmes – 'enabling' active safety leadership from the top-down and ‘facilitating’ positive inter-departmental integration to improve risk management and business performance. As a Strategic Consultant, he assists clients to intelligently adopt the principles of regulation and build organisational cultures that prioritise safety, reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies. His specialisation is in human performance centered safety management programmes, winning and sustaining hearts and minds to the safety improvement agenda. Prior to establishing Baines Simmons, Keven was the Deputy Regional Manager of the CAA Regional Office in Hong Kong following a period as a CAA Airworthiness Surveyor at the Heathrow and Gatwick regional offices. As a British Airways Quality Assurance specialist, he was instrumental in the introduction of a Human Factors and Error Management programme into British Airways in the mid-90s. Keven has held various management positions and is an EASA Licensed Aircraft Engineer, beginning his career at RAF Halton as a trained aircraft engineer.

Alfred Roelen

Lecturer/Researcher, Aviation Academy, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Academia and SMS Education - Preparing the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals Abstract: The presentation will provide a view on how the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences develops its curriculum on SMS, taking into account items such as: requirements from industry (scope, level of detail); integration with the overall curriculum; collaboration with other European 'Aviation' Universities, including exchange of students; measuring the quality of the study program; training material; and selection and preparation of teachers. Bio: Dr. Alfred Roelen is a lecturer/researcher at the Aviation Academy of the Amsterdam University of Applied Science on the subjects of Human Factors and Safety Management. He also is a senior researcher at NLR’s Air Transport Safety Institute in Amsterdam. With more than 20 years of experience in aviation safety research and consultancy, Alfred Roelen is one of the Netherlands’ leading experts on safety performance and safety management in which he is a consultant to both industry and governments. His current research topics include safety performance and safety management, safety modelling, continued airworthiness and flight crew fatigue. Alfred also is an internal auditor of the research aircraft maintenance group. This is a Part-145 and Part-M certified organisation within NLR that is responsible for continued airworthiness of the NLR research aircraft.

Download Presentations

• Full Industry Day Article
• Briefing Abstracts and Presenter Biographies
• How SM ICG Materials Can Be Used/Integrated into an Airline’s SMS Operation by Pascal Kremer (Luxair)
• SMS Training-Operator’s Challenges by Giancarlo Buono (IATA)
• Delivering SMS Training in an MRO Organization by Jorge Leite (TAP Maintenance and Engineering)
• SMS Training at Transavia by Richard Hol (Transavia)
• Corporate Strategy to Define Competences & Appropriate Trainings by Doctor Claire Pélegrin (Airbus Product Safety)
• SMS Training, Airbus Helicopters’ Approach by Patrick Pezzatini (Airbus Helicopters)
• Safety and Training – FerroNATS Strategy to Manage Safety Through Training by Raquel M. Martínez Arnáiz (FerroNATS)
• Managed Competence, a Key Enabler for Safety Performance by Keven Baines (Baines Simmons)
• Academia and SMS Education - Preparing the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals by Alfred Roelen (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences)