Safety Board Idea's

[x15]

Hello folks. I have been charged with making a Safety board for the 703 operator I work for. I am looking for some good ideas of things to cover on this board (to be updated monthly)

was thinking along the lines of Surface contamination, Hot tables, Fatigue, hazardous materials etc...

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

x15

[Widow]

Do you mean a Safety Management System?

[Dagwood]

Some more ideas to get you started:

Lightning
Ice and snow
Engine failure
Metal fatigue
Delamination
Stalling
Fire
Bird strike
Ground damage
Volcanic ash
Human factors
Controlled flight into terrain
Terrorism
Attack by a hostile country
Airport design
Infection
Emergency airplane evacuations
Runway safety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_safety

[Shiny Side Up]

Have lots of safety meetings. Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.

[C-FABH]

Further to some of the suggestions above, a few more 'juicy' subjects where risk can be high:

- Altitude busts and deviations
- TCAS/Airmiss Incidents
- Rejected take-offs
- "Deep Landings"
- Go arounds

[old_man]

Depending on how many employees are at your company and if you have a health and safety committee your provinces labour board probably has a guideline as to what has to be on a 'safety board'.

Stuff like 'workers rights' or something similar. Certain acts or laws, what to do if injured....etc. Think outside of aviation. Minutes of the last safety meeting. Names of people to talk to if you have a concern....etc.

Of course this all depends on what the driving force is behind this 'safety board'. It's a very vague description.

[x15]

The driving force behind the safety board is just to create awareness about a variety of subjects. It also to meet a legal obligation so the basic things are covered. But i need to make this something that people are going to want to look at. I dont want to simply meet some requirement TC and the labour codes impose but to generate communication throughout the pilot group that leads to greater awareness and sharing of information.

Thanks for all of the ideas so far. I am going to try and touch on as many as I effectively can.

x15

[Big Pistons Forever]

Ther are two kinds of safety boards. One is for when when the boss says "The safety nazi's are arriving next week for an inspection so quick put up something pretty !" For that kind just get a bunch of posters from TC and call her good. The other kind is for when management is serious about a safety culture and wants things that actually have value. In the later case it is actually worth putting a bit of effort into creating and maintaining a company safety board. The problem with safety boards is they quickly go stale and pilots look but don't see when they pass them. To keep them fresh you have to keep updating the items. One way to do this is to require each pilot/AME/emplyee to make a monthly contribution. That is they have to go find some safety related article/poster and put it up. This will hopefully engender some ownership and encourage soem freindly compatition over who has the "best" submission. Another stategy is to post a weekly cartoon strip like "Chicken Wings". This will give folks a reason to revisit the board.

[x15]

Ther are two kinds of safety boards. One is for when when the boss says "The safety nazi's are arriving next week for an inspection so quick put up something pretty !" For that kind just get a bunch of posters from TC and call her good. The other kind is for when management is serious about a safety culture and wants things that actually have value. In the later case it is actually worth putting a bit of effort into creating and maintaining a company safety board. The problem with safety boards is they quickly go stale and pilots look but don't see when they pass them. To keep them fresh you have to keep updating the items. One way to do this is to require each pilot/AME/emplyee to make a monthly contribution. That is they have to go find some safety related article/poster and put it up. This will hopefully engender some ownership and encourage soem freindly compatition over who has the "best" submission. Another stategy is to post a weekly cartoon strip like "Chicken Wings". This will give folks a reason to revisit the board.

Excellent Idea's. I will attempt to incorporate all of them into what I am doing!

Thanks!

[Widow]

Take a look at accident reports for similar operations/aircraft types for more ideas and to generate more conversation/input. Don't restrict this to CDN stuff.

[Sidebar]

Hopefully your project is intended to help promote a safety culture. To that end, you could include copies of the company hazard reporting form, a summary of other means to report hazards, and a regularly updated section with feedback from the reporting system to show people their reports actually can help make a difference.

[hz2p]

This may be too left-brain, so apologies in advance, but ....

Instead of running around like a chicken with your head cut off, trying to address every possible contingency - why not prepare for an alien invasion, too? - why not first try to figure out what are your organization's high risk potential problem areas?

Focus your (likely limited) energy on what needs to be solved, and will give the greatest returns, rather than dissipating your efforts by trying to go shotgunning in all directions at the same time.

[Shiny Side Up]

...promote a safety culture.

I find it interesting when this terminology gets used, and all too often its the buzz-phrase of those who wish for things to be safe but are completely at arms length from the front line doings. At best it means well, but has the pitfall of being far too general in its scope (sorry sidebar and BPF - but I've been to too many safety meetings with upper management and the regulator where this gets bandied about too much that it has lost its meaning.)

Focus your (likely limited) energy on what needs to be solved, and will give the greatest returns, rather than dissipating your efforts by trying to go shotgunning in all directions at the same time.

In my opinon is the best advice yet. Be specific about what you feel needs to be done about reducing the risk in the worst areas. To me, risk reduction means more than safety promotion. Safety isn't about filling out checklists and following procedures, its about getting workers aware of the risks involved, its about getting people to think, its about getting people to act responsibly. List and procedures are tools to use to reduce risk, they should never be monsters of their own, they never automatically increase safety.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Shiny

Your points re safety culture are very well put. A safety culture is ultimately a state of mind or attitude and starts at the top with the accountable executive. Safety meetings and safety boards are meaningless unless there is a wide spread understanding that the boss wants a safe opreation, and when there is a choice between safe and efficient, or, safe and hurry up, or, safe and save some money..... safe wins every time. If that attitude is not there, than "safety culture" are just empty words., thus my openning comment about the 2 kinds of safety boards. If the boss is not willing to walk the talk than don't bust your butt on the safety board. Just make it look pretty for the auditors and call her done.

[Shiny Side Up]

Safety meetings and safety boards are meaningless unless there is a wide spread understanding that the boss wants a safe opreation, and when there is a choice between safe and efficient, or, safe and hurry up, or, safe and save some money..... safe wins every time.

In an eviornment where management is truly enlightened in promoting safety one realises that there is no choice between safe and efficient, safe and fast or safe and save money. They are one and the same. The safe means is the most efficient means in the long run. The safe means saves the most time, the safe means gains the biggest profit margin. It boils down to the fact that broken airplanes make no money, dead people can't work for you and dead customers give no repeat business and don't pay their bills.

[Big Pistons Forever]

In an eviornment where management is truly enlightened in promoting safety one realises that there is no choice between safe and efficient, safe and fast or safe and save money. They are one and the same. The safe means is the most efficient means in the long run. The safe means saves the most time, the safe means gains the biggest profit margin. It boils down to the fact that broken airplanes make no money, dead people can't work for you and dead customers give no repeat business and don't pay their bills.

What you say only applies if management thinks in the long term and in an abstract way (i.e. I will accept the idea that safe operations are ultimately more profitable than unsafe ones, even if I may not be able to immediately quantify the savings). The problem is too many operators given a scenario where an existing safety problem that can be fixed immediately , but at a cost of 50 dollars right now, will take a pass, and hope every thing will work out OK anyway. This sets the tone going forward and forms the safety (when it is convienient and won't cost anything) culture which is so prevalent in todays 703 operators However ultimately the safety of the orginization is up to the individual pilot. Your attitude towards safety has to be unconditional....even if it means walking away from an operation that has safety issues which are not under your control.

[ScudRunner]

Make it seasonal, talk about Icing / Surface contamination in the fall. Summer time Thunderstorms and proper WX Radar usage getting into the spring. Birds in the spring you get the idea if you start talking about De Icing in July everyone will just round file it.

Throw something in it for the pilots like a free box of KD if they can colour within the lines.

[Meatservo]

If you're working for a bush operation, get your guys working on a "rocks and docks" book. Whenever someone goes somewhere, get him to take notes and draw a picture of the place, detailing things like where the dock is, underwater obstructions, takeoff and landing areas, etc. Make sure the drawings follow a standard format and include as much detail as possible. Stick 'em all in a big book and make a copy for all the pilots. I've always wanted to do something like this, I think it would really be a safety asset.

[x-wind]

Explaining in detail the purpose for every checklist item, it could start a healthy discussion.

Flight planing assignments, there could be some differences or missed factors that need to be addressed. (cold weather correction, fuel burns, gps approach with a gps alternate etc.)

Operating techniques and air law- leaning at the top of the decent with a power reduction, flight in class G IFR, specific differences between aircraft etc.

Grain of salt..

[WayDownTown]

Google Flight Safety Foundation. The put out an e magazine that has lots of interestng reading. They also have a data base of older aticles that they incourage other to download, read and to pass on.

http://flightsafety.org/

[Bede]

What you say only applies if management thinks in the long term and in an abstract way (i.e. I will accept the idea that safe operations are ultimately more profitable than unsafe ones, even if I may not be able to immediately quantify the savings). The problem is too many operators given a scenario where an existing safety problem that can be fixed immediately , but at a cost of 50 dollars right now, will take a pass, and hope every thing will work out OK anyway.

Bingo. The problem from a business perspective is that while the long term profit motive is ideal, most small operators work on a cash flow basis. You may be making a proffit, but if you have to pay for parts up front and your customers take 1-2 months to pay, you may run into cash problems. Deferring airworthiness items until there is some more money in the kitty can be awfully tempting.

[Shiny Side Up]

What you say only applies if management thinks in the long term and in an abstract way (i.e. I will accept the idea that safe operations are ultimately more profitable than unsafe ones, even if I may not be able to immediately quantify the savings). The problem is too many operators given a scenario where an existing safety problem that can be fixed immediately , but at a cost of 50 dollars right now, will take a pass, and hope every thing will work out OK anyway.

Bingo. The problem from a business perspective is that while the long term profit motive is ideal, most small operators work on a cash flow basis. You may be making a proffit, but if you have to pay for parts up front and your customers take 1-2 months to pay, you may run into cash problems. Deferring airworthiness items until there is some more money in the kitty can be awfully tempting.

ITs not only management who needs to think that way, while it usually needs to work from the top down, there's nothing to say that there can't be flow from the bottom up - and I can say that from experience. Sometimes people only need to be painted the picture of truly what they're gambling when they make such decisions. What may seem like large potential gains verses small risks is very limited thinking. People too often forget about the real possible penalty for failure. No load of cash brings you back.

In all truthfulness, if you can't run your business profitably and safely, then you shouldn't be running your business.