Available Here: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/Engli ... .html#hd3c
Main Points
What we examined
Transport Canada's responsibilities for air transportation safety include promoting safety; developing regulations; and overseeing compliance with them by airlines, aircraft maintenance companies, manufacturers, airports, air traffic control, and other sectors of the industry. The Department is now adopting a new approach to oversight, based on the implementation of safety management systems (SMS). The approach will require aviation companies to have in place a system for managing the safety risks linked to their operations. Transport Canada's oversight role will change from one focused solely on conducting inspections and audits to one of assessing the processes that companies have in place for ensuring safety—although direct inspections and audits may still be carried out if necessary.
We examined how Transport Canada has managed the transition to the new approach for the first sectors to make the shift: airline operators and associated aircraft maintenance companies. We did not examine the level of air transportation safety in Canada. Nor did we look at security—that is, protection against deliberate acts such as terrorism.
Why it's important
The civil aviation sector is a key element of Canada's transportation network and its economy. In 2006, air transport in Canada carried 99 million passengers, up 6 percent from 2005, and the number is expected to grow 40 percent from 2006 to 2015. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the rapidly expanding aviation industry and the limited resources of oversight authorities make it increasingly difficult to sustain the existing approach to managing safety. ICAO has stated that by 2009, each member country must establish a safety program requiring aviation companies to implement a safety management system acceptable to the country's regulating authority.
For effective oversight, it is critical that the transition to the new approach be well managed, that oversight continue throughout the transition, and that Transport Canada understand and mitigate the risks inherent in the transition.
What we found
* As the first civil aviation authority to put in place regulations requiring aviation companies to introduce SMS, Transport Canada developed its own approach. For example, it conducted pilot projects with airlines and small operators and used the results to establish milestones. It also monitored activities and made adjustments to ensure that all regions applied procedures consistently. However, in planning for the transition, the Department did not document risks, such as the impact of the transition process on oversight of air transportation safety, and identify actions to mitigate these risks. Nor did it forecast the overall costs of managing the change.
* Resources have been shifted from traditional oversight activities to SMS activities. However, the Department has not measured the impact of this on the frequency of traditional oversight activities.
* Transport Canada has not yet identified how many inspectors and engineers it needs, with what competencies, during and after the transition. The impact of SMS is being addressed in the reorganization of the Department's Civil Aviation program, now under way. Given that this is not expected to be completed before the end of 2009, Transport Canada could find itself unable to recruit the right mix of skills when it needs them.
* The Department has not developed short- and medium-term performance indicators—those that could signal a need for closer attention or action in a particular area—to measure the impact of its civil aviation activities.
Transport Canada has responded. The Department agrees with all of our recommendations. Its detailed responses follow each recommendation throughout the chapter.
Auditor General Report on Transition to SMS
Moderators: Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, I WAS Birddog
Re: Auditor General Report on Transition to SMS
Well somebody finally said it inspectors and the industry has been saying this all along but the upper management would not listen it is to bad that AG didn't look at level of service I'm sure she would have found the same problem she found in passports
Re: Auditor General Report on Transition to SMS
Drinking outside the box.
