Safety Management Systems - Workshop
(Aviation)

 

(SMS-Workshop)
 

3 April 2008

 Course Description

As a follow on to SMS essentials training,  this intensive workshop is designed for those who are more experienced in a safety and already know what needs to be in a safety management system or may already have a safety system in place and want to evaluate and update it.  This workshop assumes every attendee already knows the SMS essentials.  This workshop goes beyond essentials and case studies of someone else's SMS, and instead requires attendees to start building and assembling the framework and elements of their own SMS using the ten steps to an SMS or evaluating their own SMS in order to improve it.  The focus is on identifying gaps (gap analysis) and how to fill those gaps so as to create a fully functional SMS.

This workshop builds upon the information provided and any gaps identified in the SCSI Safety Management Systems Essentials course by providing a series of practical, focused discussions and hands-on “ten step” exercises to help attendees leave this workshop with a comprehensive checklist of requirements and a three ring binder and tabs as the framework and elements for building their own SMS or a three ring binder with a comprehensive checklist tailored to evaluating an existing SMS.  The workshop also asks attendees to bring any material on an existing SMS and existing gaps analyses to focus the evaluation training.

The workshop starts by highlighting the latest information on implementing an SMS from one of Transport Canada’s experts in this subject.  Mike Doiron has been the leader in developing and implementing SMS across Canadian aviation organizations.     The remainder of this workshop  will be team oriented where attendees work on their SMS using the “Ten Steps to a Safety Management System” to build the framework for their SMS program, to work on closing any gaps identified, or, to evaluate and update their current program.

The workshop is practical -- not theoretical.  In addition to hands on practice in planning and developing their own SMS, all attendees will receive a set of very useful checklists, guides and other tools that can be used to make their SMS a “world class” program.  The checklists, guides and other tools used in the workshop are designed to assure that the ten steps in building an SMS have been followed and to show how to evaluate the “content” produced by each step. Here is a partial list of these checklists.

  • An SMS Implementation Guide - Transport Canada

  • An SMS Audit Checklist

  • A GAP Analysis Form

  • A Sample SMS Project Plan

  • A Guide For Investigating Human Error

  • A Guide for Investigating Fatigue

  • A Human Error Reduction Program Outline

  • An SMS Compliance Document

  • Operator's Flight Safety Handbook 2nd Edition

Who Should Attend

Personnel assigned to safety and safety-related positions in an airline, an on-demand charter, an aerodrome, executive support airlift, a military flying activity or a government regulatory body who have a need to either review, evaluate, build, or improve upon a safety management plan; and who have already obtained the basic fundamentals and essentials of an SMS.  It also is for anyone who needs practical experience in building, implementing, evaluating, and managing a "world class safety program."   

 

Required Equipment

All attendees should bring a laptop computer and any current safety policies and electronic versions of safety manuals, standard operating procedures, etc.,  to this workshop, to provide the tools and information necessary to gain maximum benefit from the workshop.

 

How You Will Benefit

  • You will learn how safety management systems are being effectively applied to aviation operations.

  • You will practice developing or using checklists to develop the elements of a safety management system in your own organization.

  • You will learn a data-driven approach to enhancing aviation safety by practicing how to collect and use data that will support a proactive approach to safety.

  • You will practice how to take account of human and organizational factors in safety management practices.

  • You will practice developing safety budgets and preparing the financial requirements for an SMS in a format for line managers.

  • By completion of the course you will learn how to develop a safety management system tailored to your organization. For those from organizations that already have safety programs, you will be able to critically review, compare and contrast, evaluate, and improve existing plans and programs from a safety management system perspective.

  • SCSI will award 3.6 CEUs to each participant who successfully completes this course.

 

Course Topics

  • Safety management systems in practice

  • Selling SMS to your senior management 

  • Conducting a SMS gaps analysis of current organizational safety programs

  • Developing improvements to an existing safety system to make it a fully functional SMS

  • Building your SMS framework and elements – a practical workshop deliverable

  • Evaluating your SMS – a practical workshop deliverable

The majority of these topics are workshop oriented with mentoring and some seminar discussions and lots of practical hands on assignments. The final part of this workshop is a major "capstone" assignment in which you will build/begin to assemble the framework and elements for your own SMS, make progress on closing any gaps identified, or be able to evaluate your existing safety program.   On the final day students will present their work and gain insight through peer review and interchange.  Presentations will be critiqued by instructors representing a Senior Manager and an SMS Regulator.

 

Course Instructor

Mr. Mike Doiron is the instructor for this course.  There are four major strengths Mike brings to this course:

  • Mike was one of five trainer/facilitators who trained 800 Transport Canada Safety Inspectors in SMS across Canada.

  • One of the specific projects given to Mike was to be in charge of evaluating the usability of the SMS tools for small operators. 

  • Mike holds the SCSI Certificate in Safety Management Systems.

  • Mike has been an instructor for SCSI for five years now and has consistently received the highest ratings from all students in the courses he teaches.  He has a unique ability to reach out to students from around the globe and talk to them in their own language and from the perspective of their own experiences.

 

 G. MICHAEL DOIRON

G. Michael “Mike” Doiron recently retired from Transport Canada where he served many years as Civil Aviation Safety Inspector. He provided training and guidance on Risk Management programs and Safety Management Systems for various organizations. Other duties included providing Safety Awareness training in Crew Resource Management, Pilot Decision Making, Human Performance in Aircraft Maintenance, Human Factors in ATC Operations, Company Aviation Safety Officer and Human Factors in Airport Operations

Mike served as a facilitator and instructor for Transport Canada’s Risk Management and Safety Management Systems implementation programs and personally provided training for approximately 800 safety inspectors.  Mike was also responsible for visiting and assessing the effectiveness of SMS plans for a wide range of organizations throughout Canada.  He headed up the evaluation of applying SMS to small operators.

An expert in Safety Management Systems,  Mike has assisted in the development of SMS programs for Alaska and South Africa.  He provides ongoing SMS guidance to International organizations through SCSI’s SMS courses in Prague and Los Angeles concerning SMS Gap Analysis and the development of SMS implementation strategies.

Mike has conducted Research and Development of new Safety and Awareness Programs based on identified incident trends. He was a Risk Management facilitator for Transport Canada reporting system for the Atlantic Region and served as the Minister’s Observer on a number of high profile aircraft accidents, most notable being the SWR111 accident September 2, 1998 and the MK 1602 Cargo B747 accident in Halifax 2004.  Doiron interrupted his career with Transport Canada to complete a 14-month assignment as an Accident Investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada where duties included accident Investigation and determining the effectiveness of company safety Programs.

In 2001 Mike completed the Certificate Program in Aviation Safety Management with The Southern California Safety Institute.  He is a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) and has served as a member for Civil Air Search and Rescue for 20 years and is a member of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association.                                           

 

Course Administration

Taught at the DoubleTree Hotel on the waterfront in San Pedro in Southern California, and Prague (2008), the Safety Management Systems Workshop Course consists of 4.5 days (36 hours) of workshop and mentoring with some instruction. Participants receive the workshop outlines, additional reference material, and a Certificate of Completion. Classes begin at 0800 and end at noon on the last day.

 

Course Schedule, Location and Tuition

 

 

Revised 30 March 2001