Qantas appoints new 'Head of Safety'

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ANNOUNCEMENT FROM GROUP EXECUTIVE QANTAS AIRLINES OPERATIONS

In September, Rob Kella announced significant changes to the Risk and Assurance function, including the Qantas Airlines AOC transfer from Alan Joyce to me. As a result the Qantas Airlines safety division of Group Safety was separated to create a dedicated Qantas Airlines safety department. These changes led to the need to appoint a Head of Safety, Qantas Airlines.

After an extensive internal and external search process I am delighted to announce that Susan D’Ath Weston was the stand out candidate and has now been appointed to this very important role. As many of you are aware, Susan has been acting in the role since September. She has been a crucial member of the team providing safety oversight for the return to service of the A380 fleet and has also been of huge support to me personally during this busy time.

Susan comes to the role with more than 30 years' involvement in the aviation industry, which includes experience as an airline pilot, corporate jet charter pilot and holding the Chief Pilot delegation for helicopter operations. In addition, Susan has also held various management roles including Executive Director of an International Airshow, manager of an in-flight catering company as well as hands on experience in airline operations control.

Please join with me in welcoming Susan to the role and to the Operations team.

Lyell StrambiAnyone aware of who the lady previously worked for?

Not meaning to be offensive but:
Chief Pilot delegation for helicopter operations would the size equate to the size of QANTAS? even though she isn't Chief Pilot at QANTAS.
Executive Director of an International Airshow is that important?
manager of an in-flight catering companyso?

Have management just given someone else the flick within the department? Whilst plenty of 'experience' the lady would not appear to be a career 'safety' person.

[Arnold E]

So she's a LAME then and understands how aircraft operate in the real world. Wow how good it this appointment, I am realy impressed.:ok::ok:Not

[Sunfish]

Calling her the "Stand out" candidate is a deliberate and stupid insult to anyone else who might have applied for the job. The insinuation implied is that they will die before they are ever promoted and should therefore leave Qantas.

To put it another way; LS has just told any competitors or colleagues of the lady to "eff off and die."

The usual formulation is that "there was a very strong field of candidates, and....."

[The Kelpie]

It is interesting how AJ is distancing himself from safety by introducing a couple of management tiers. A sure sign that he is more concerned than he lets on !!!

[Arnold E]

A sure sign that he is more concerned than he lets on !!!
I honestly doubt that he is even slightly concerned with saftey. what he is doing is put more layers between him and the eventual outcomes of his policies. It is those people that will take the blame, not him, you watch and see if I'm not right.:=

[The Kelpie]

That's what I meant Arnold. Hopefully the Senate will impose criminal charges on CEOs that, in the event of a reportable incident or accident are found not to have given proper attention or allocated sufficient resources to correctly manage safety. Punishment: a term behind bars. Yes that is how seriously I think safety in aviation should be taken.

The SOP change that contributed to the JQ botched go around is a prime example of where a term in jail is due to the management who illegally introduced it.

[genex]

So what happened to JG?

[4dogs]

genex,

He's the controller of the Matrix, this appointment is for one of the new silos within the Matrix...

but will he be able to keep it together when it counts?

Stay Alive

[Jack Ranga]

Kelpie,

Jail terms for CEO's, ya dreamin' mate. We're talking Australia, do a bargain with the prosecutors and you can do 18 months on a manslaughter charge for murdering your wife.

[Horatio Leafblower]

you can do 18 months on a manslaughter charge for murdering your wife.

Where can I apply??? :E

[gobbledock]

It is interesting how AJ is distancing himself from safety by introducing a couple of management tiers. A sure sign that he is more concerned than he lets on !!!
It seems that way. It is Normal for management to build in some 'fall guys' into the structure. Executive Management surround themselves with senior managers who get promoted when things go well, or who get punted and take the fall for the boss when things turn sour. It is not a new concept but the catch is this - under a Safety Management System the CEO remains the accountable person. No layers of protection exist in this regard anymore. It doesn't matter how a CEO structures the organisation or how much he/she try to distant themselves from accountability, they cannot do it.
Now they can appoint other managers as the 'responsible' person for whatever role, inlcuding a 'head of' safety and the associated responsibilities, however they cannot palm off 'accountability', things have changed.

So you will definitely see CEO's start going to jail in the future for the failings of their company, e.g when accidents occur and deaths are involved etc. And it is about time too. No more gravy train for these people where they can do what they want when they want without getting their a#s in the sling.

I honestly doubt that he is even slightly concerned with saftey. what he is doing is put more layers between him and the eventual outcomes of his policies. It is those people that will take the blame, not him, you watch and see if I'm not right.:=
Perhaps, but again times have changed. Any decision the CEO makes that impacts safety put's he/she in the firing line. I hope they are thinking twice about these issues now.

Jail terms for CEO's, ya dreamin' mate. We're talking Australia, do a bargain with the prosecutors and you can do 18 months on a manslaughter charge for murdering your wife.
The accountable person rule is not immune from Australia. It is global, but it is also new, so many still do not understand how it works. You only have to look at the Concord saga to see how accountabilty has changed in its strength.

genex,
He's the controller of the Matrix, this appointment is for one of the new silos within the Matrix...
but will he be able to keep it together when it counts?
Silo it may well be, plus an attempt to shift responsibility. Smart move in it would seem especially the way things are currently going but it won't work, if they put one into the side of a hill and negligence is involved then it will be the CEO who see's the inside of the 'big house' !!

[vigi-one]

This wouldn't be the lady that ran Bundy Helicopters (sorry helicopter) for a little while and sat on the Bundaberg International Airshow Board that then went to PacBlue would it? Catered Qlink out of the Cafe in the terminal.

[unseen]

Since when is it illegal to make changes to the SOPs?

It would be different if we were talking about making a change to the AFM....

Don't think the SOP for a go around is in the AFM.....

Could be wrong

[SRM]

Dont know about the Bus but all procedures on Boeing a/c originate from the AFM.

[ANCDU]

Why is there such a lack of pilots and engineers being promoted to positions like this within airlines? Lack of people applying or is it that senior managers just have no respect for us anymore? Seems to be the case that if your actually have something to do with aircraft at an airline these days your not management material!

[megle2]

Vigi - crossed my mind too. No ones given any details of her past employers. A very big step up if so.

[gobbledock]

Why is there such a lack of pilots and engineers being promoted to positions like this within airlines? Lack of people applying or is it that senior managers just have no respect for us anymore? Seems to be the case that if your actually have something to do with aircraft at an airline these days your not management material!
Because Pilots and Engineers understand the principles of 'you have to spend money to make money' plus in general they understand the elements of safety.
Unlike today's CEO who has a background in financial consultancy, accounting and other toffee nose ****e, they would do a better job in the banking sector.

[Sunfish]

ANCDU:

Why is there such a lack of pilots and engineers being promoted to positions like this within airlines? Lack of people applying or is it that senior managers just have no respect for us anymore? Seems to be the case that if your actually have something to do with aircraft at an airline these days your not management material!


Dear Oh Dear ANCDU!! You just don't understand do you?

The reason pilots and engineers aren't promoted is because then they would be a threat to existing management!

They are very rightly perceived as a threat because then they would combine[B] Formal authority with Informal authority.

Formal authority is a title. You can give anyone Formal authority.

Informal authority comes from being recognised by your peers as a natural leader because you have superior skills and experience.

When you get your MBA and get appointed to manage something that you have never done yourself, then all you have is formal authority. If the group you are managing has a natural leader with natural authority, and you don't immediately co-opt them, while learning as fast as you can about the business to give yourself a little informal authority, then you are setting yourself up for conflict. The normal response is to fire the person with the informal authority as quickly as possible, branding them a "trouble maker".


The exchange basically goes like this:

Manager (M): "I want "X" to be done this way like it says in this manual".

Informal Leader (L): "We can't do it that way. It doesn't work. It never has worked, the manual is BS. This is how we do it."

Manager: "I don't care what you do, I want it done like the theory says."

Informal Leader: "Listen Sonny........."

It's all downhill from there.

I've watched it done around Boardroom tables too. The last thing a know nothing manager or Board member wants to have to deal with is a someone who has the informal authority that arises from having detailed operational and technical knowledge of the subject under discussion because the manager will lose every time.

This experience was acquired through great pain as a once "know nothing" manager myself. Fortunately I realised and got the hell out of there.

[SRM]

Sunfish, how right you are.

[mmciau]

Sunfish,

Your example is a wonderful precis of how it was in the 1980-1990s in the Australian Public Service.

Such waste prevailed.


Mike

[rover5520]

So beautifully put.

[airsupport]

Sunfish,

Your example is a wonderful precis of how it was in the 1980-1990s in the Australian Public Service.



Sadly it was also like that in Airlines back in the 1980s, certainly at Ansett anyway. :(

[Bolty McBolt]

Sunfish...

The exchange basically goes like this:

Manager (M): "I want "X" to be done this way like it says in this manual".

Informal Leader (L): "We can't do it that way. It doesn't work. It never has worked, the manual is BS. This is how we do it."

Manager: "I don't care what you do, I want it done like the theory says."

Informal Leader: "Listen Sonny........."

It's all downhill from there.



Sounds like you were listing to a bloke called Murray.
We listened for a while..Then the rest is history and the worst part is it never needed be that way
(ALAEA PIA 2007)

[teresa green]

Sunfish you have been reading my mail. After THAT year, in a attempt to keep my family in Australia, I got a job with BASI, along with another TAA pilot, and joining us was one Ansett pilot. Now bearing in mind the three of us had not done anything else but fly aircraft, we were hardly public service material, but with around about 40 thousand hours between us, you think we would know something, No. We were all assigned positions as crash investigators, and dutifully turned up to work in CBR where we learnt, (1) not to upset the Raafie Chappies, who basically ran it, (2) that many clubs were run out of the office including cricket, car, orchid ( fair dinkum) and any accidents or incidents were not allowed to interfere with the running of the above clubs. (3) that you started work at 0830 and finished work at 1700, and nothing but nothing interfered with that, and you also learnt that to try to get back into the office at 1659 could cause you to die, as the lemmings came down the stairs like a soccer mob out of control, quite capable of walking over the top of you, in their desperate need to get out. (4) that any knowledge displayed by us, was sneered at, (what would civil pilots know) and we were seen by some, as smart arses and had to wear, at times, Mr. Hawkes "overpaid bus drivers" remarks, as well as the RAAF'S total Sh%ts about their aircraft used as PAX airliners. Finally we made it out into the field where we were much happier (we knew nothing about office politics, water cooler gossip, or he said, she said, stuff) and even if at times it was very confronting, at last you could talk to engineers and people who spoke your lingo. Needless to say we did not stay long, and all took OS flying jobs, packed up and left. Now I am sure things have changed, (I hope) and CASA is a different operation, from that era and mindset, but it gave me insight into public service thinking of which I was completely oblivious to. Things I learnt which might be of help in dealing with govt depts.(1) Never state the bleeding obvious. (to easy) (2) always take three to four copies of any paperwork when dealing with them (they are likely to lose at least 2 of them) (3)Try to get the name of the person your dealing with (it normally sounds like "haveajarofvegemite") (4) be prepared to wait. (Especially if a Govt cheque) (5) keep trying, ( I have known of people who had success, normally just before they died) (6) STAY on the flight deck, DO NOT consider a govt job, YOU ARE NOT SUITABLE!

[Tee Emm]

Now I am sure things have changed, (I hope) and CASA is a different operation, from that era and mindset

I was in DCA in the early Seventies. Later joined Air Nauru to fly an F28. Dropped in a year later to visit my old friends at 188 Queen Street Melbourne (DCA HQ) and tell lies about my South Pacific adventures. They were envious which is why I told them. Then wandering along one of the corridors, I ran into the same old tea lady that had been with DCA for countless years. She was the Pprune equivalent of the Townsville refueller.

Hullo Mr Tee Emm, she said - I haven't seen you for ever such a long time - have you been on holidays? And would you like a nice cup of tea, Luv?

Oh yes please Mrs Smith - I would love one. Thank you so much for asking. The old lady pours the tea out of a whacking big tea pot and gives it to me. I noticed that next to the sugar bowl on her trolley were two types of tea spoons. One lot was made of silver metal and the other lot were Woolworths plastic spoons.

I was about to carefully select a silver spoon when the old lady stopped me and said quite sternly "Have you got a carpet in your office, Luv?"

I thought of the cockpit of the F28 with its metal floor and replied "No, Mrs Smith, no carpet in my office".

"In that case Luv, you can't have a silver tea spoon - that's only for executives with a carpet in their office"....

I glumly took a plastic tea spoon realising I had never made it to the top in DCA. When all my mates on the 4th floor of DCA HQ heard about this, they all dashed out at lunch time and bought silver spoons and hung them high on their office doors as an indication of their high aspirations to be top dogs with carpeted offices in the Public Service. :D

[tipsy2]

I did the google search thing without any real information turning up because I have never heard of Susan D’Ath Weston.

Has anybody else?

tipsy

[airtags]

Head of $afety.........hmmmm interesting title although it's doubtful that anything will be done to change a festering culture that discourages reporting and persecutes those that intervene to stop unsafe practices.

When you have a risk management system that is build on off balance sheet cost mitigation, then the 'Head of Safety' needs to have a lot of hands on aviation experience, a thick skin and an airtight exit clause in their contract.

The Q $afety Management System is a shambles as evidenced in the results of the recent Group Safety Survey.
.........and just like a CASA tough talk editorial, another over rated QF Exec salary will do little to fix the problem.


AT:E

[Cactusjack]

I did the google search thing without any real information turning up because I have never heard of Susan D’Ath Weston.
Has anybody else?
Internal appointment. She has been with the group for a couple of years. Not a big player but keen as mustard to play in the big leaugue. The job is a poison chalice and an extra layer to protect the upper echelon when the next debacle unfolds. Every organisation appoints a fall guy/gal, correct ??

Head of $afety.........hmmmm interesting title although it's doubtful that anything will be done to change a festering culture that discourages reporting and persecutes those that intervene to stop unsafe practices.
When you have a risk management system that is build on off balance sheet cost mitigation, then the 'Head of Safety' needs to have a lot of hands on aviation experience, a thick skin and an airtight exit clause in their contract.
Da little fella is trying to place somebody in the mix who still has relatively dirty hands rather than somebody who has 20 years experience sitting in swanky coffee clubs and reaping executive rewards based solely on losing touching with reality.
I wish her all the best, a kevlar vest to protect her back is my only advice......

[James4th]

Thank you Sunfish for explaining a 6 year old riddle; now I know where I went wrong.

I should never have said "Now listen Mate!"

Jimmy 4

[Horatio Leafblower]

did the google search thing without any real information turning up because I have never heard of Susan D’Ath Weston.

Has anybody else?

God bless LinkedIn.

I have a few friends/contacts in the Aviation Safety fraternity and none of them are "linked in" with Ms D'Ath Weston.

I have a lot of friends who are members of AAvPA.. none of them are "linked in" with Ms D'Ath Weston.

I have peers in the safety department of Jetstar... none of them appear "linked in" with Ms D'Ath Weston.

I am not for a moment suggesting that internet social networking sites are related to one's suitability for a job... but I note that the GM of safety systems at Virgin is "Linked In" with 139 others (thant's 139-nil, sports fans), SOME of whom are working in the field of aviation (or other industrial) safety. Very few in airline catering :uhoh:


:confused:One of the most important parts of any safety role (IMNSHO) is being able to communicate with people on any level of the business.

Pretty scary I reckon. :eek:

[Cactusjack]

Very few in airline catering http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/worry.gif
Nontheless Catering is an essential service. It 'links in' with all the daily pasengers uplifted, Catering 'links in' with all Crews network wide, Catering 'links in' with the engineer's huts around 2300 most nights, and Catering even 'links in' with by Bull Mastiff on occasions when I bring her home a few dozen left over salad rolls (shhhhh).
Perhaps Mrs D'Ath Watson is 'linked in' with The Little Fella, Strong James, JG and even Darth on Face#ook instead ?

[tipsy2]

Thanks for the info Cactus and Horatio

Even though I know one or two people in this aviation safety game, none were able to shed any light on her background, qualifications or where she had been.

No one infact even knew her.:confused:

tipsy:ok:

[Oakape]

This wouldn't be the lady that ran Bundy Helicopters (sorry helicopter) for a little while and sat on the Bundaberg International Airshow Board that then went to PacBlue would it? Catered Qlink out of the Cafe in the terminal.


vigi-one is on the right track. Previous surname Teasdale. See page 3 of link below, under 'Meet the Team'

http://www.widebayaust.com.au/pdfs/community_news/2005/Newsletter_Sept_2005.pdf

[Sunfish]

If she is a friend of Quentin Bryce then God help you.

[gobbledock]

If she is a friend of Quentin Bryce then God help you.
Don't get me started there. Another perfect example of how to waste 400k per year !

[boodems109]

as in her husband murray?... if so what are you implying about him or his involvement ??

[boodems109]

i infact, do know her.

her qualifications, skill and anything else in the matter are all up to, if not beyond what you would expect from a person in her position. i do wish people would understand what they are talking about...

honestly people, who of you are really able to comment on her when you have even admitted that you dont know her....... really upsets me actually.

[600ft-lb]

Murray D'ath Weston ?

You googling your name ?

As much excitement as you probably had, enough to make an account and post on pprune, he was probably talking about a different Murray, who one who involved in Qantas Engineering management and figured prominently in the last EBA dispute.

So prominently he now no longer works at Qantas.

[unseen]

Using someone's number of linkedin connections as a measure of how good they are at communicating - please spare me. Did you check out her facebook page as well?

The higher up a person is in an organization, the less something like LinkedIn is helpful.

You will have to do better than that to discredit someone.