Catindig, Leslie Veronica D.

June 11, 2020

ME101-2/A2 Written Report

Basics of Safety Engineering and Safety Management

Safety engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with accident
prevention, risk reduction associated with human error, and deriving safety
benefits from engineered systems and designs. Safety engineering makes
sure that a life-critical system functions as necessary even when parts or
components fail to work. Safety engineers are responsible for maintaining the
safety of workplaces. They monitor the work environment, inspect buildings and
equipment for hazards. In addition, safety engineers
would also recommend safety features for new processes and products. The
objective of Safety engineering is to control risk by reducing it or eliminating it
altogether. It also aims to lessen the rate of failures and lessen the impact of
accidents if failure occurs.  Safety engineering typically begins during the phase
of designing a system or developing a product.
Safety Management System, according to ICAO, is a systematic approach to
managing safety. It includes the necessary organizational structures,
accountabilities, policies, and procedures. ESARR3 meanwhile defines SMS as
a systematic and explicit approach defining the activities by which safety
management is handled by an organization to achieve acceptable or tolerable
safety. The objective of a Safety Management System is to provide a structured,
organized management approach to control safety risks in operations. For a
safety management system to be effective, it must consider the certain
structures and processes of the organization related to safety of operations.
There are four components that make up an effective safety management
system according to ICAO. The four components are Safety Policy and
Objectives, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, and Safety Promotion.
1. Safety Policy & Objectives - Defines the methods, processes, and
organizational structure needed to meet safety goals. Establishes
commitment of the senior management to continually improve safety.
The examples are:
 Management commitment and responsibility
 Safety accountabilities
 Appointment of key safety personnel
 Coordination of emergency response planning
  SMS documentation
2. Safety Risk Management – Assesses the risk and determines the need for
new or revised risk controls based on the assessment of that risk.
Consists of:
 Hazard Identification
 Safety Risk Assessment
 Mitigation
3. Safety Assurance - Evaluates the continued effectiveness of implemented risk
control strategies and supports the identification of newly discovered hazards. It
includes:
 Safety performance monitoring and measurement
 The management of change and continuous improvement of the
SMS
4. Safety Promotion - Includes training, communication, and other actions to
create a positive safety culture within all levels of the workforce. Safety
promotion activities found in the SMS framework include:
 SMS training
 Education
 Safety Communication
For us to better understand the Safety Management System, we also need
to define organizational accident. Organizational accident happens when several
factors appear collectively to create an unsafe environment. There are five
building blocks of the organizational accident.
 1. Organizational processes – Activities over which any organization has
a reasonable degree of direct control.
2. Latent Conditions – The conditions that are present before the
accident occurred, made evident by triggering factors.
3. Defences – Resources to help protect against risks that organizations
that are involved in production activities generate and must control.
4. Workplace Conditions – Factors that directly influence the people’s
efficiency in workplaces.
5. Active Failures – Actions or inactions made by people (e.g. pilots,
maintenance engineers, controllers, aerodrome staff, etc.) that have
immediate adverse effect. It includes regulatory errors or violations.
Another feature of SMS is Reactive Safety Management, Proactive Safety
Management, and Predictive Safety Management. Understanding the difference
between the three types of safety or risk management can bring benefit to
engineers since it helps them generate a good safety performance.

1. Reactive Safety Management – These are actions in response to

hazard/risk occurrence. It helps mitigate the severity of safety events and
threats. Examples are MOR, Incident Report, and Accident report.
2. Proactive Safety Management – These are actions that address
perceived hazard/risk occurrence before it occurs. Examples are audits or
inspections, voluntary reporting, and surveys.
3. Predictive Safety Management – These are actions that attempt to predict
future potential hazard/risk occurrence based on past performance data.
Examples include system analysis, safety case, and FDA.
Aviation accidents are rarely caused by one factor. Using models will help
understand why accidents happen. One of the models you can use is the Swiss
Cheese model of accident causation, which is originally proposed by James
Reason. The model compares to the human system defences to a series of
holes randomly located in Swiss Cheese slices that are arranged vertically and
parallel to each other with spaces between each slice. The holes represent
individual weaknesses in individual parts of a system. The slices of cheeses are
the defences of an organization. The system will produce failures when all the
holes of cheeses align, which permits a trajectory of accident opportunity so that
a hazard passes through the holes of the “defences”. Once it reaches the other
side of the system, that is when an accident occurs.
 Another model you can use is the SHELL model. This model uses blocks to
represent Human Factors’ different components. This does not cover the
interfaces which are outside Human Factors and is only used as a basic aid to
understanding Human Factors.

1. Software - The rules, procedures, written documents etc., which are

part of the standard operating procedures.
2. Hardware - The Air Traffic Control suites, their configuration, controls
and surfaces, displays and functional systems.
3. Environment - The situation in which the L-H-S system must function,
the social and economic climate as well as the natural environment.
4. Liveware - The human beings - the controller with other controllers,
flight crews, engineers and maintenance personnel, management, and
administration people - within in the system.
In the SHELL Model, if there is a mismatch between the Liveware and other
four components, it will cause human error. Therefore, these interactions must
be evaluated and considered in all areas of the aviation system.
There are three main strategies to control human error.

1. Error Reduction - Intervene at the source of the error by reducing or

eliminating the contributing factors.
2. Error Capturing - Designed to intervene once the error has already been
made, but before it causes adverse consequences.
3. Error Tolerance - Aims at making the system better able to sustain itself
despite error, i.e. minimizing the consequences of errors.

We also need to examine the effects of culture on safety performance.

Culture is the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group, so
it determines the behavior of people in different social situations. Values, beliefs,
and behaviors people share are influenced by culture. There are three types of
cultures, namely:

1. Organizational culture
- Differentiates the characteristics and value systems of organizations
- Determines rules for acceptable behavior
- Provides framework for managerial and employee decision-making
- Can be influenced by the company strongly
- Safety culture is a part of it
2. National culture
- Differentiates the national characteristics and value systems of nations
- Predefined
3. Professional culture
- Differentiates the characteristics and value systems of professional
groups.
- Predefined

People can belong to more than one cultural group. An example is a pilot
(professional group) works for Philippine Airlines (organizational group) and is a
citizen of the Philippines (national culture). National and professional cultures are
predefined, meaning they are not subject to significant amount of change.
However, organizational culture can be strongly influenced by the company.
Moreover, organizational or corporate culture forms safety reporting procedures
and practices. Safety culture is part of organizational or corporate culture and
promotes good practice of safety reporting, which is a vital part in SMS.