Getting Real With Your SMS

Your Safety Management System is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

That framing matters, because tools are meant to be used, controlled, and directed — by you. Not the other way around. When we forget that, the SMS stops being something that helps your operation and starts being something you feed, work around, and try not to fail.

So let’s get real. Two things have to be true for your SMS to do what it’s supposed to do.

1. It has to actually work for you.

Not for your auditor. Not for a template you inherited from another operator. Not for the shelf it’s sitting on. For you — your operation, your people, your risks, your tempo. A well-built SMS matches the shape of your department. A poorly-built one makes you bend around it.

2. You have to know the why.

Every element of an SMS exists for a reason. Risk assessments aren’t there because they’re required — they’re there so you can see hazards before they find you. SPIs aren’t box-checking — they’re how you know whether your risk controls are actually performing or just looking like they are. When you understand why each piece exists and how it actually serves you, the SMS stops being bureaucracy and starts being useful.

Where evaluations go wrong

This is where a lot of third-party evaluations fall short.

Picture this: an evaluator shows up, runs through a checklist, and leaves you with a finding that reads “No documented process for developing Safety Performance Indicators.” That’s it. No context. No “here’s why this matters to your operation.” No “here’s what a good version of this looks like for a department your size.” Just a finding, a due date, and a handshake on the way out.

(And sometimes the evaluator is misinformed in the first place — but that’s a whole different newsletter.)

What usually happens next? You reverse-engineer something just clean enough to close the finding. Now you have more paperwork, more process, and a slightly thicker SMS manual. What you don’t have is a better SMS. You’ve added bureaucracy to satisfy someone else’s checkbox, and the people on your team can feel it. That’s how SMS fatigue sets in, and it’s how good people on your team start to roll their eyes every time the SMS gets mentioned.

How BASC does it

When we come onsite and issue a “finding” — and I’ll be honest, I hate that word — it’s usually because something you actually need, something that would help you, is either missing or over-engineered to the point it isn’t tenable.

When that happens, here’s what we do.

First, we explain why. Why that thing is needed, what it’s supposed to do for your operation, and the benefit it can actually provide you. Before we ever talk about how to fix it, you should understand why it matters in the first place.

Second, we roll up our sleeves. We are more than willing to sit down with you and work out a solution that fits your operation — not a template, not a copy of somebody else’s manual. Something that actually works in your department, with your people, at your tempo.

Because the point was never to pass an inspection.

The point is organizational excellence. The point is a flight department where the SMS is a tool your people actually reach for — because it helps them make better decisions, catch things earlier, and go home to their families at the end of the day. The point is a program that makes your operation better, not one that leaves you confused and discouraged.

The takeaway

The next time someone hands you a finding without a “why,” push back. Ask the question. Demand the context. And if you’re not getting it, give us a call — that’s exactly the kind of conversation we love to have.

The SMS is a tool. Let’s make sure it’s working for you.

Jason Starke, Ph.D. President & CEO, Business Aviation Safety Consortium