Premium on Safety - Issue 49, 2023 - 4

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
TO PILOTS, " RISK MANAGEMENT " ISN'T SOME
BUZZ PHRASE. It's our bread and butter. It's what
we do every single day. It's so important, in fact,
that it's built into everything we do, overtly or
not. There are full-on government handbooks,
manuals, and advisory circulars written on the
subject. There are multiple companies built on
developing software helping to measure and
manage risk. It's incorporated into the practical
test standards/airman certification standards
of every certificate and is a critical pillar of all
Safety Management Systems. Still, the
basic concepts of risk management are so simple
and ingrained that sometimes we're not even
conscious we're doing them.
Ever step outside to go to the airport and quickly
look up at the sky to check weather conditions?
Safety Risk Management (SRM)
is the second pillar of a Safety
Management System (SMS),
and it boils down to three simple
elements: hazard identification,
risk assessment, and risk mitigation.
Maybe you noticed it was a bit windy, so you
pulled up the current wind direction and speed.
You may think, " That wind is a bit strong for
Runway 30. It's getting uncomfortably close to
the max crosswind limit of my aircraft, which
may be difficult to control on takeoff. " Let's
say you decide you'll take off from Runway
23 instead of 30 because the winds are more
favorable for 23. That's risk management in
a nutshell.
Safety Risk Management (SRM) is the
second pillar of a Safety Management System
(SMS), and it boils down to three simple
elements: hazard identification, risk assessment,
and risk mitigation. In the case above, the
identified hazard is the strong crosswind. The
assessment realizes a serious risk of losing
control of the aircraft on takeoff. The mitigation
is using a different runway more in line
with the wind, thereby reducing the risk to an
acceptable level.
Let's break the elements down one at a time.
Hazard identification can be reactive or
proactive. Here's an example: After cleaning the
hangar floor, someone slips and falls. Clearly,
the wet hangar floor was the hazard. We've
identified it and can run it through our SRM
to assess the risk and devise ways to mitigate
it, like putting out cones when the floor is wet.
A proactive approach to hazard identification
would be to identify the hazard before any
accident or incident occurs, like recognizing
that the wet floor might result in a slip-and-fall
accident before it happens.
Illustration by Viktor Koen
Identifying hazards can be elusive if you
aren't actively looking for them. The acronym
" PAVE " was developed to help recognize risks
prior to flight. The " P " is for Pilot. Before each
flight, we must establish our level of readiness:
our qualifications, currency, proficiency, and
aeromedical hazards (IMSAFE checklist)
should all be considered. " A " is for Aircraft.
What hazards are related to aircraft performance
(fuel and range, takeoff and landing, weight
and balance, etc.)? How about the aircraft
equipment? Is any equipment inoperative or
maintenance item being deferred? " V " is for
enVironmental. We should identify the weather,
airport, hangar, airspace, terrain, and traffic
hazards for each flight. And finally, the " E "
stands for External pressure. Is there pressure
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https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/february/pilot/turbine-airways-frat https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-01/Intro%20to%20SRM.pdf https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/sms/explained/components https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/sms/explained/components https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-01/Intro%20to%20SRM.pdf https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap8_section_1.html

Premium on Safety - Issue 49, 2023

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