Peter Boyd Manager, Compliance Practices & Procedures .
This new approach to surveillance has the goal of encouraging airlines to take responsibility for their own safety management systems while maintaining CASA's monitoring and evaluation of compliance.
We are in the midst of a fundamental change in the Authority's approach to the safety surveillance of the aviation industry. This is being undertaken in conjunction with a major review of the Civil Aviation Regulations.
The Compliance Division comprises approximately 350 staff located in offices throughout Australia and is tasked with the compliance and enforcement functions for the Authority, functions which are designed to ensure that operators comply with the Regulations.
At the same time, studies into the causes of airline accidents were beginning to conclude that a significant proportion of aviation accidents could be contributed to system deficiencies within organisations (the so-called "organisational accident"), whereas, in the past, they may have been simply attributed to pilot error.
The FAA has embarked on a program to increase their airline operators' safety through an emphasis on operator management systems and a surveillance structure based on these systems. Other Civil Aviation Authorities have also launched similar initiatives.
After the mid 1990s and in line with the global developments, CASA had started to introduce a system audit approach to surveillance. Quality system audit techniques were taught in training courses and attempts were made to integrate these techniques into the surveillance system, but there tended to be a widespread belief that the quality systems and the system approach was all very interesting, but where did it fit in with my real job?
In early 1999 the Australian National Audit Office carried out an audit of CASA's surveillance and enforcement activities. The audit report is a matter of public record and pointed to a number of shortcomings with the surveillance system, including a serious shortfall in meeting the inspection targets set by the system.
Clearly, changes had to be made in the system of surveillance of the aviation industry.
"To encourage and achieve industry development of management responsibility and effective safety management processes whilst efficiently monitoring and evaluating industry compliance." (my bold).
In short – we will take no responsibility at all, but; you stuff it up and the roof will fall in. Brother Sarcs # 1230 has drawn your attention to the progressive undermining of the ATSB, the corruption of a holistic 'shared' approach to effective safety management and the monumental cynical disregard for Coronial recommendations. Even the Barnes (LHR) notion of cooperation was corrupted to develop the MOU (one of the very few CR ever 'adapted'). So, we devolve into a system where a policy of "strictly no liability" becomes the robustly supported mantra. Slide around ICAO, slip past FAA, take ten or so years to obliterate Coronial recommendations, manipulate the system to ensure total "plausible, legally defined deniability".
P7-(TOM) recently offered a sneak read of a PAIN draft report on this one subject which chronologically defines the decline and failure of the ''adopted' system, it runs to some 40 pages just to address
{"Fort Fumble has not addressed any of the highlighted deficiencies of its adopted ‘systems based auditing’ and ‘risk based surveillance program’ that were publicly documented in the ATSB LHR ‘Final Report’ and in the Coroner’s report"} Sarcs.
There are three pages related to differences in the training of CASA 'auditors' to the real deal IOSA Auditors used by civilised countries like Singapore and India. Tick and flick – right out.
Once you start to join the dots, even in a small way a very ugly picture emerges. Sarcs is to be commended for condensing many days of research into a short article; which just about defines one small part of the multi headed monster CASA has become. Perhaps this Senate Inquiry will pave the way for an in depth analysis of just how well the current system has been corrupted to suit everyone except the survivors and victims. Lockhart River, like the ghost of Banquo haunts the feast.