Question

Why do airports need an individual SMS? What actions prompted the FAA to propose the creation of SMS at airports?

Answer 1

The airports need an individual Safety Management System (SMS) because:

• The number of passengers travelling by air is continuously increasing and the airports need to their own system to manage such traffic.
• The Air Improvement Program (AIP) provides suggestions that airports should regularly keep updating their all kinds of infrastructure and thus the demand of individual SMS arises.
• The increased demand of safety from the passengers and authorities.
• Individual SMS provides such as decreased incident rates and enhanced communications and thus it is required.
• SMS is a risk management system and its efficiency has been proven, the airports too want to reduce the risks and thus such demand to implement individual SMS system has arisen.

Actions that prompted the FAA to propose the creation of SMS at airports are:

• The new suggestions which came from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) which requires SMS to be implemented at airports for its certification.
• The pressure which was mounting on FAA that it has been always late in the implementation of standard procedures set by the ICAO.
• The pressure to match international safety measures followed by other airports of the world.
• Safety experts worldwide view SMS as the next major step to improve safety in aviation and after the suggestion of ICAO in 2005, the FAA was not doing what it should have done for the implementation of this standard and it was brought into the light in few of the reports and news articles which fast-forwarded the process at FAA for its implementation.