Legal Issues Related to Developing Safety Management Systems and Safety Risk Management at U.S. Airports

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Safety Management System (SMS) has been defined as a systematic approach to managing safety not only by proactively conducting safety assessments before there is an incident or accident, but also by having the necessary policies, procedures, organization structure, and accountabilities in place. SMS has four key elements: 1) Safety Policy, which defines the methods and tools for achieving safety goals, including management accountability for such goals; 2) Safety Risk Management (SRM), which requires a proactive approach to identifying risks, quantitatively and qualitatively categorizing risks, and establishing mitigation for identified risks; 3) Safety Assurance, which includes a method for establishing processes to monitor an organization’s performance in identifying risks and establishing preventive or corrective actions to maintain safety; and 4) Safety Promotion, which involves the establishment of procedures and processes that change the safety culture and environment, including the establishment of confidential reporting systems, to encourage employee reporting and feedback as well as employee training. The identification of risks and the creation of such records could increase airports’ liability as entities subject to their individual state sunshine laws. The result could be less data obtained as confidentiality of data is crucial to those reporting information. Since SMS has been in effect at airports around the world, experiences from Europe, Canada, and Australia are discussed. SMS has been implemented in other industries in the United States, including the maritime, oil, and gas industries, as well as in the area of patient safety. These are examined in the context of U.S. airport implementation. While this digest does not evaluate the FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, it does provide an evaluation of SMS and the issues that airport operators must consider and address when establishing SMS.