In theory SMS is good. Done properly, the safety benefits are well documented. Less obvious are benefits to business, as CASA and customer auditors love to see SMS. As do insurers.
In practice, all too often SMS really is just touchy-feely window dressing; maybe an excuse to have a meeting now and then. Lots of warm fuzzy statements in the exposition about how the CEO is totally committed to it, ad nauseum. But, here's the rub. All this is on condition that it costs nothing, causes no delays and most importantly, does not involve the CEO actually attending meetings (always too busy on that day), or making promises (certainly not in writing anyway).
At CASA insistence, larger organisations may even employ a safety manager or assign the job to someone to do as an additional duty. They may even have some fancy computer system to log all incidents, then track them to some sort of conclusion. All too often pissant stuff gets reported and a lot of time is wasted on so-called investigation and remedial action. Stuff like a report that a small amount of hot coffee got spilled on someone. After several months of this doing the rounds to all section leaders to comment on (the engineering manager and chief pilot are really interested in this one, not) a decision is made to serve coffee at a lower temperature, or maybe not at all. Then a customer complains, the marketing manager sticks his oar in and the CEO goes ballistic because he wasn't party to the decision and so demands that hot coffee go back on the service. Do CEOs get this far down in to the weeds? You bet they do, but only when it suits them..
A more serious issue - and obviously worthy of a report - would be if a pilot left a pitot cover on. He gets airborne in IMC and soils his pants. More irate customers. All hell breaks loose in SMS Centre. Aided and abetted by the CEO, the non-pilot safety manager demands checklists be modified to include the mention of pitot covers at least three times, the SOP is rewritten to precede the 80 knots airspeed crosscheck with one at every 10 knots all the way to V1. It is proposed that the soiling issue be resolved with fitment of rubber seat covers, but as there is a cost to this, it is rejected. Instead the policy manual is amended to ensure that pilots pay for seat cleaning.
The simplest solution is overlooked, i.e. assigning the pilot to some more line training with considerable emphasis on pre flight inspections. But, hey, this costs money and takes up someone's time. Scratch that.
Simpletons will not be saved by SMS, and neither will it ever eliminate human lapses, yet too often this is seen as its purpose. Cynical? You bet........