Articles

There is a level of risk in almost everything we do in life and as such, humans invariably enable conscious and unconscious risk mitigation's in order to complete the actions successfully. In the aviation sector risk is ever present and a number of processes exist in order to mitigate the risks in moving passengers, cargo and airplanes from point A to point B.

In combination with a sound Safety Management System (SMS), the absence of an accident is sometimes used as a means to describe an organisation’s operation as “safe”. Is this really a valid argument? Do all organisations have a true picture of their safety landscape and have they been able to identify any close calls? Often it is the manifestation of a number of unknown and unrelated events that can result in a serious incident or accident. These events are usually an element of “business as usual” and occur every day as part of the normal operation.

The importance of active operational risk management should never be underestimated. As a former Flight Operations Manager, I have attended numerous Safety Meetings (DSAG and SAG) and the most common question is: “Has our risk picture changed in the last few months?” The answer, inevitably, is: “No, our risk register indicates that we have mitigated all risks to as low as reasonably practical.” Whilst this answer is technically correct it is often not a true reflection of the risk levels experienced in an organisation. Great operational risk management requires so much more.

Is it possible to determine the true risk landscape of your organisation? Ask safety managers this question and their answer may well be: “Of course we can as we have a risk register that indicates all known hazards and they have been mitigated to an acceptable level.” However, is this a true picture of the total risk faced at a corporate level and have all hazards been identified? Are there any latent issues lurking in the background just waiting to manifest as something more serious?