Management Systems in 2021, Volume 29, Issue 3, pp. 208-214 Production Engineering Date of submission of the article to the Editor: 01/2021 Date of acceptance of the article by the Editor: 03/2021 DOI 10.2478/mspe-2021-0026 SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN AVIATION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM APPROACHES IN V4 COUNTRIES Michaela KEŠEĽOVÁ, Monika BLIŠŤANOVÁ, Peter HANÁK, Ľubomíra BRŮNOVÁ Technical University of Kosice Abstract: The article aims to support the Safety Management System's implementation in the Visegrad Four (V4) countries by introducing supporting documentation at the national level or national legislation. The research subjects are the V4 countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia), where 39 air carriers operate. Safety manage- ment in today's world is already necessary, yet introducing a Safety Management System (SMS) is voluntary in many areas, including some transport modes. In air transport, it is mandatory, and the general principles and guidelines of this system are set out in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has issued sev- eral regulations and recommendations. The lists of ICAO standards and essential translations can be considered a minimum, which is also approached by different authorities. The article points out the primary differences in SMS in individual V4 countries and presents which country provides the strongest support in implementing this system. Key words: ICAO, Regulations and Recommendations, Safety Management System INTRODUCTION In November 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organ- Air transport has become an integral part of life with a ization (ICAO) demanded the Contracting States establish growing trend, but in 2020 the COVID world pandemic a safety program to accept and oversee the safety service stopped its expansion. Despite the fact, International Air providers' safety management system. Recently, the Transport Association (IATA) published a scenario analysis emerging era of the 'Total Aviation System Approach' re- that over the next 20 years, global air passenger growth quires all aviation stakeholders and their interfaces to be could plausibly be in the range between 3.2% and 5.3% understood and managed for safety performance, result- [1]. With the increase in aviation accidents and incidents ing from an increasing level of maturity in aviation safety and environmental threats, aviation safety came to the [5, 29]. From the first point of view, the purpose of safety forefront of interest. The main reason was that aviation management is to make sure that the amount of accidents safety is a critical factor in passenger trust of an airline, and incidents is kept as low as possible or as low as is rea- reputation, and international prestige. According to [2], sonably practicable. From a second perspective, the pur- aviation safety determines the state in which risks con- pose of safety management is to ensure that as much as nected with aviation activities, linked to, or indirect sup- possible goes right, in the sense that everyday work port of aircraft operation, are reduced and controlled to achieves its objectives [6, 26, 30]. an acceptable level. Regulation (EU) No 996/2010 trans- poses international standards and recommended prac- LITERATURE REVIEW tices described in Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention on A Safety Management System (SMS) provides a frame- International Civil Aviation. It sets out an obligation for work of methodologies, requirements, and tools that sup- each Member State of the European Union to establish an port and organisations in understanding safety principles, independent permanent national civil aviation safety in- constructing and customising a management framework vestigation authority, which shall investigate accidents that is ideal for achieving each organisation's necessary and serious incidents to improve aviation safety and pre- safety outcomes. Although safety management was a pri- vent future occurrences without apportioning blame lia- ority used as a tool to improve occupational health and bility [3, 4]. safety, it has emerged into a much more comprehensive M. KEŠEĽOVÁ et al. – Safety Management System in Aviation… 209 system embracing psychological, organisational, social, as a quality management system is a systematic and ex- and technological approaches to safety and systems plicit approach to improving the quality of a product to thinking [7, 28]. Another definition describes a safety meet the customer's requirement [16]. This sophisticated management system as an approach to harmonise, ra- and high-quality system has broad applicability in air tionalise, and integrate management processes, safety transport. It is also one of the main requirements [17] that culture, and operational risk assessment [8]. Modern SMS an air carrier must meet to obtain an Aircraft Operating could be defined as an arbitrary collection of activities Certificate (AOC). A specific modification of the require- deemed necessary actions to discharge responsibilities ment is Commission Regulation (EU) No. 965/2012. It is a under the new age of the delegated responsibility of self- comprehensive regulation laying down general and de- regulation [9]. The definitions of SMS in air transport vary tailed air operations rules, including SMS, airborne vehi- depending on the system's approach, the main definitions cles, aeroplanes, helicopters, balloons, and gliders. being given in (Table 1). The safety management system for 193 ICAO member countries is regulated by ICAO Annex 19, first published in Table 1 July 2013. ICAO Annex 19 provides standards for imple- Definitions of SMS menting and maintaining a State Safety Program (SSP) by SOURCE DEFINITION States and providing a Safety Management System (SMS) A safety management system is a system- by applicable service providers involved in the various ser- atic approach to managing safety, includ- vices and industries in aviation [18]. Table 2 shows the ICAO ing the necessary organisational struc- Overview of Annex 19. tures, accountabilities, policies, and proce- dures [5]. A Safety Management System is an ex- Table 2 plicit, comprehensive, and proactive Overview of Annex 19 process for managing risks that inte- Overview of Annex 19 Transport Canada grates operations and technical systems emphasises the importance of security management at the na- (TC) with financial and human resource man- tional level; agement for all activities related to a increases safety by consolidating safety management provisions Civil Aviation Document (CAD) [10]. applicable to several areas of aviation; A safety management system is a system- facilitates the development of safety management provisions; atic approach to managing safety, includ- represents an opportunity further to support the implementa- Civil Aviation Safety ing organisational structures, accountabil- tion of the SMS and SSP provisions; Authority Australia ities, policies, and procedures. An SMS is Supports the process set out for the analysis of Annex 19 feed- (CASA) scalable, so it can be tailored to the size back and the implementation of safety management. and complexity of the organisation [11]. A Safety Management System is the for- ICAO Annex 19 are supplemented by [18]: mal, top-down, organisation-wide ap- − Safety Management Manual (ICAO) for Safety (Doc Federal Aviation proach to managing safety risk and assur- 9859), Administration ing the effectiveness of safety risk con- − Guidance Material (GM) to Annex III Organization re- (FAA) trols. It includes systematic procedures, quirements for air operations, in this case, practices, and policies for the manage- ment of safety risk [12]. ORO.GEN.200, A Safety Management System is a system- with recommendations for other manuals [18]: atic and proactive approach to managing − Manual for the Oversight of Fatigue Management Ap- safety risks. Risk management activities proaches (Doc 9966) are at the heart of SMS, including the iden- UK (Civil Aviation − Manual on Laser Emitters and Flight Safety (Doc 9815) tification of safety issues, risk assessments Authority) CAA − Manual on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and risk mitigation. It is supported by a (Doc 10019) strong assurance function that monitors compliance and performance as well as − Manual on the Competencies of Civil Aviation Safety managing changes [13]. Inspectors (Doc 10070) − Manual on the ICAO Bird Strike Information System The SMS is a system whose primary purpose is to ensure (IBIS) (Doc 9332) that safety is managed and regulated in all aspects of life. − Airport Services Manual (Doc 9137), Part 3 – Bird Con- To maintain the required safety level, the effective identi- trol and Reduction fication of all risks is a precautionary measure [14]. The − Air Traffic Services Planning Manual (Doc 9426) safety management framework has gradually evolved into − Airworthiness Manual (Doc 9760) a core subject for safety sciences since 1973 [15]. An SMS − Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) (Doc 10004) is generally defined as the processes, components, and − Manual of Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation management activities that seek to enhance an organisa- (Doc 9756) tion's safety efficiency [9]. This system is no more than a The ICAO Safety Management Manual (SMM) [5] has un- systematic and explicit approach to managing safety – just dergone four revisions, the last of which was in 2018. The 210 Management Systems in Production Engineering 2021, Volume 29, Issue 3 current edition is supplemented