FocusOn… SMS

On March 5th, 2025, ESASI hosted the sixth online FocusOn… seminar. This FocusOn covered a wide range of topics related to Safety Management Systems. 

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The seminar was chaired by Paula Dugdale, member of the ESASI committee and a current Air Safety Investigation Engineer
at Rolls-Royce plc

​This topic is an important part of daily operations for most aviation organisations. The programme examined SMS from various perspectives, including the perspective of an airline, an air navigation services provider, and from the perspective of different aviation sectors.

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There were four speakers:

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1. Dr Pete McCarthy, Head of Group Human Factors, Cathay Pacific

2. Youri Auroque, EASA Regulations officer & DOA Team Leader, EASA

3. Marc St-Laurent, Lecturer, Safety and Accident Investigation Cranfield University

4. Martin Timmons, Head of Safety Management, AIRNAV Ireland

Copies of the presentations used are accessible here: 

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1. Adaptive Capacity – Proactive Safety Data for SMS

2. Regulatory changes in Part 21 – SMS implementation

3. SMS/SSP (State Safety Programmes) and Safety Investigations

4. In praise of the Incomplete Safety Manager

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All questions from the chat asked by attendees were answered during the webinar. Several people used the chat facility to share recommended further reading links:

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• IATA have recently released their Annual Safety Report 61st Edition reflecting on the 2024 safety performance: https://www.iata.org/en/publications/safety-report/

• For anyone wanting to learn more about investigating SMS, the topic is covered (by Tabitha Steel from the UK Rail Accidents Investigation Branch) as part of the Cranfield Investigating Human Performance Course: https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/courses/short/transport-systems/investigating-human-performance

• An attendee strongly recommended the book Safety Management Systems in Aviation Third edition as an SMS resource

• https://skybrary.aero/articles/weak-signals-approach-ansp-safety-performance 

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