Research Requirements To Improve Safety Of Civil Helicopters

Author : Mohd. Adzmi Ariffin
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 102 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (975 download)

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Download or read book Effectiveness of Safety Management Systems of Two Helicopter Operators written by Mohd. Adzmi Ariffin and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this study is to determine whether there is any impact in implanting a Safety Management System in helicopter operations. The function of the system is to assist managers: to analyze, to develop, to communicate and to monitor safety at workplace. This paper will outline one important area critical to aviation safety, the new 'safety health' concepts being applied to improve the safety of world aviation. This study will examine the perception of the importance of safety issue at two organizations, one organization already has a safety management system implanted and the other has yet to introduce one into their organization. Although both companies have to follow the Malaysia Department of Civil Aviation regulatory requirement to manage their own helicopter operations it is imperative to note that a safety management system could further enhance the aviation safety standards. Fundamentally the system is to build or maintain a positive safety culture. Dr. James Reason Model is used to develop the safety management process. Reason acknowledges that each of the organizational, workplace and person/team components of his model is difficult to identify before an accident. This is because latent failures are usually unforeseeable, workplace factors are dynamic, and errors or violations are unpredictable. The model implies that the integrity of safety defenses can be more accurately determined. Rather than waiting for accident to occur, the Safety Management program provides a structured method for helicopter operators to proactively evaluate potential defense failures on a regular basis. In order to determine safety management system effectiveness an alternative method is used. Normally audits are carried out to measure and evaluate a system, however this method can be counter productive where accident frequency is very low or no existent especially in a helicopter operations. In this study the perception survey method is used to assess the success of the operator safety program. The survey begins with a short demographic survey, typically question about their employee level, their general work location, and their function. The second part o the survey consists of questions designed to uncover employee perception about safety. The finding of the survey shows that staff do operate unsafely due to peer pressure or management pressure to complete tasks. The overall picture is, operator with a safety management system in place exhibit higher perceived hazardous condition and likelihood of accident. This positive safety attitude in the workplace can reduce accidents and even could prevent one. It is clear that consistent communication of safety related information within an organization is crucial for improving staff attitude toward safety. While the MASIS program has only been applied within one regional helicopter operators, the process is sufficiently simple and flexible to be applied to other operator as well as other industries. Department of Civil Aviation has produced an implementation guide that allows any operator to self-install the program.