Safety Culture?
Thread Starter
P377 that is an eye opener, what an appalling situation. I've witnessed operational standards being diminished and was primarily at the behest of one individual who had the authority to do so. All appropriately accounted for in the manuals of course but a still diminishment on the previous standards and the regulator will never pick up that nor would be there be any challenge as to how it came to about. It would be a good education for the public to know the real calibre of the aviation industry.
Two words to describe our industry: Morton Thiokol. Everything is fine until the tragedy.
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That is a short, but very accurate description. 10/10. For the unsuspecting shuttle crew the holes in the cheeses lined up on that fateful day. Our industry has plenty of holes in its cheese also.
Nunc est bibendum
I’ve always liked this video! It’s insight regarding not just ‘group think’ but organisational culture is as relevant today as it was nearly 36 years ago.
And there-in lies the problem.
Every time you make a "safe" decision (delay, divert, cancel, carry more fuel, deny boarding etc), the only measurable outcome is actually negative! You've cost the company money, bad PR, delayed flights with knock-on effects and so on. You can't prove that there would have been an accident, incident or negative outcome if you had persisted with Plan A, whatever it was. And, because of that , the company is naturally going to ask you why you chose your course of action, which is fair enough, but its the way they ask and how they manage the process that will determine what sort of organisation they are and will determine whether others will feel safe making safe decisions (irony).
So, again, its the Management that will directly affect whether you will have a reporting culture, and therefore, what type of safety culture you will have.
In my experience, such a culture in smaller companies is rare, but there are definitely some Corporate Flight Departments out there trying (they can afford to), as well as many of the major Flag carrier airlines. The other place you can see the theory in action is the company's that hold "special mission" contracts, where they're more likely to lose the contract by taking risks than if they were to down tools or or execute Plan B.
Every time you make a "safe" decision (delay, divert, cancel, carry more fuel, deny boarding etc), the only measurable outcome is actually negative! You've cost the company money, bad PR, delayed flights with knock-on effects and so on. You can't prove that there would have been an accident, incident or negative outcome if you had persisted with Plan A, whatever it was. And, because of that , the company is naturally going to ask you why you chose your course of action, which is fair enough, but its the way they ask and how they manage the process that will determine what sort of organisation they are and will determine whether others will feel safe making safe decisions (irony).
So, again, its the Management that will directly affect whether you will have a reporting culture, and therefore, what type of safety culture you will have.
In my experience, such a culture in smaller companies is rare, but there are definitely some Corporate Flight Departments out there trying (they can afford to), as well as many of the major Flag carrier airlines. The other place you can see the theory in action is the company's that hold "special mission" contracts, where they're more likely to lose the contract by taking risks than if they were to down tools or or execute Plan B.
of safety that probably doesn’t actually exist.
I recall a particularly very angry ex-chief pilot(he was always yelling, screaming and barking at the moon) who was the ex-chief pilot of a current Australian LCC and he previously worked for Qantas main competitor before they went bust in 2001. He would make Captains call him if they performed a go-around. He would demand details, berate the crew over the cost of the additional fuel burn and the flow-on delay to the next sector. Safety was never discussed, the bottom dollar was the only important consideration. Crews were scared to phone him. Unless the go-around was due to an another aircraft still on the runway you got blasted for being incompetent and blowing company money on a procedure detrimental to the airlines finances. No star jumps from him! As said earlier, most airlines are happy to preach about safety if they can see no added costs involved. A very immature and naive thought pattern. Throw money into the mix and suddenly this ‘safety first’ bull**** takes a back seat.
OOOPPPSSSS....... TKS Roj,
Shoot me ! I'm goin' Senile....I completely overlooked 'Affordable Safety' .........(The 'Other' mantra..)..
How 'silly' of moi...
TKS !!
Shoot me ! I'm goin' Senile....I completely overlooked 'Affordable Safety' .........(The 'Other' mantra..)..
How 'silly' of moi...
TKS !!
The existence of a Safety culture and a Just culture, will depend on the Organisational culture.
Thread Starter
Unfortunately CI, they can get to you especially in smaller organisations. I've witnessed it, good people being "retrenched" simply because they wouldn't kotow to a vile, disgusting and abusive "accountable manager" over very fabricated issues. That is the one significant reason to support a seniority system it provides protection and it is the reason why management want to strip it out of industrial agreements.
Safety and the way it’s applied in the real world in any industry is an alibi at best. Like the alibi used by the Sharon Stone character in Basic instinct where she had previously written about a murder that was subsequently committed in exactly the same way.
You’re covered if you make a public song and dance about the details or circumstances of your crime in advance and then it subsequently happens; you maintain a very high level of deniability. Couple that with a distinct lack of prior accidents and you’re pretty much free to claim you have a robust, worlds best practice safety system even if you don’t.
You’re covered if you make a public song and dance about the details or circumstances of your crime in advance and then it subsequently happens; you maintain a very high level of deniability. Couple that with a distinct lack of prior accidents and you’re pretty much free to claim you have a robust, worlds best practice safety system even if you don’t.