The Future of Flight Safety Publications
Pegase Driver
Join Date: May 1997
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Safety magazine, having been in a similar situation (a few years ago ) we overcame the problem in 2 steps.
We had indeed the pressure of management not to have printed or electronic messages discussing safety-related issues ( in our case severe incidents ) for the same reasons as you described.
The First solution used was to have briefings sessions at regular intervals , informing and discussing those issues.
That cost a lot of money ( scheduling and taking shift working staff off duty to attend briefings, staff involved in giving them , etc..)
Then came the ICAO Human factorgs Annex which, among other things describe the " just culture" , whereas people are invited , and even rewarded to report safety issues. Introducing Just culture was relatively easy on paper, but took a lot of convincing , especially towards middle management.
We are now trying to implement some form of it since one year, quite successfully so far I must say.
Internal Paper bulletins are used now , distributed individually, those are far better than electronic information ( e-mails ) whose further dessimination is far easier and uncontrolable.
We also de-identify the reports ( date/hour call signs, names, even exact locations, etc) to make sure in case a bulletin is leaked to the Press .( which has not hapenned so far ).
Of course an ATC Center is not as " juicy" as and airline for the Press, but if you de-identify sufficently , and use a lot of acronyms ( which we have plenty of in our business ) there in fact little sensational news for them.
Good luck, and do not give up, perseverance is the key.
ATC W.
We had indeed the pressure of management not to have printed or electronic messages discussing safety-related issues ( in our case severe incidents ) for the same reasons as you described.
The First solution used was to have briefings sessions at regular intervals , informing and discussing those issues.
That cost a lot of money ( scheduling and taking shift working staff off duty to attend briefings, staff involved in giving them , etc..)
Then came the ICAO Human factorgs Annex which, among other things describe the " just culture" , whereas people are invited , and even rewarded to report safety issues. Introducing Just culture was relatively easy on paper, but took a lot of convincing , especially towards middle management.
We are now trying to implement some form of it since one year, quite successfully so far I must say.
Internal Paper bulletins are used now , distributed individually, those are far better than electronic information ( e-mails ) whose further dessimination is far easier and uncontrolable.
We also de-identify the reports ( date/hour call signs, names, even exact locations, etc) to make sure in case a bulletin is leaked to the Press .( which has not hapenned so far ).
Of course an ATC Center is not as " juicy" as and airline for the Press, but if you de-identify sufficently , and use a lot of acronyms ( which we have plenty of in our business ) there in fact little sensational news for them.
Good luck, and do not give up, perseverance is the key.
ATC W.
You might still have access to incidents/accidents via the Internet from US Naval Aviation's "Approach" magazine and the "AMC Flyer", which was the "MAC Flyer" years ago.
Unfortunately very few of the aircraft types described in articles are operated by airlines, but you can learn a good bit from pondering how various flightcrews reacted to malfunctions, weather problems etc.
There might be fewer lessons to be learned by the newest generation of pilots (if an "automation cripple"), unless approached with an open mind. Most of these aircraft were designed before the age of LNAV, VNAV, autothrust and ECAM displays etc.
Many are still flown, on thousands of flights each day, near good and bad weather and most had NO Flight Engineer.
Unfortunately very few of the aircraft types described in articles are operated by airlines, but you can learn a good bit from pondering how various flightcrews reacted to malfunctions, weather problems etc.
There might be fewer lessons to be learned by the newest generation of pilots (if an "automation cripple"), unless approached with an open mind. Most of these aircraft were designed before the age of LNAV, VNAV, autothrust and ECAM displays etc.
Many are still flown, on thousands of flights each day, near good and bad weather and most had NO Flight Engineer.
Join Date: Jul 2003
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I wouldn't worry too much. Sooner or later during accident/incident investigation there will be a bitter conclusion that things could have been avoided if information about similar events from the past would have been shared. It will then take a couple of weeks before a similar magazine will be re-introduced.
My first thought was that the magazine was probably cancelled due to economical reasons. Or maybe it is just a minor internal budget thing.
(corrected typo)
My first thought was that the magazine was probably cancelled due to economical reasons. Or maybe it is just a minor internal budget thing.
(corrected typo)
Last edited by LLuke; 7th Jun 2007 at 10:53.
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If your management have quashed your Flight Safety Publication, for whatever their reasons, then your management simply wants to provide "lip service" to your safety efforts and doesn't stand behind an effective safety program, or an attempt to run an effective safety program, it's as simple as that. 
Now that I've got that off, when it comes to your particular flight operation, safety statistics layed out in print for the world to see, may not be a good idea. To have it readily available for yourself, management, regulatory authority, etc., is a great idea. Any Safety Management course worth its' salt teaches you that THAT'S WHAT A SAFETY PROGRAM MANAGER DOES. Measures the effectiveness of the very safety program being funded. It's the very kind of data management NEED! They are budgeting dollars/euros/rials/dirhams/dinars/ringit, whatever! to fund the bloody thing. How is it not in their broad interests to know if the funds tossed into your safety program are value for money???
I would suggest producing your newsletter in a PDF format available to all company personnel over a secured server. This way it is controlled distribution and from there you can edit your statistics and simply say things like "how wonderful a job we're doing with a xx% improvement in our operations safety statistics over the last quarter with a yy% reduction in work related injuries, not to mention only 5 tow bars were busted this week", whatever. To go a step further make sure (which I'm sure you do) to de-identify 'articles' or 'subjects' when putting them into your newsletter.
I applaud your efforts.
Willie
Now that I've got that off, when it comes to your particular flight operation, safety statistics layed out in print for the world to see, may not be a good idea. To have it readily available for yourself, management, regulatory authority, etc., is a great idea. Any Safety Management course worth its' salt teaches you that THAT'S WHAT A SAFETY PROGRAM MANAGER DOES. Measures the effectiveness of the very safety program being funded. It's the very kind of data management NEED! They are budgeting dollars/euros/rials/dirhams/dinars/ringit, whatever! to fund the bloody thing. How is it not in their broad interests to know if the funds tossed into your safety program are value for money???
I would suggest producing your newsletter in a PDF format available to all company personnel over a secured server. This way it is controlled distribution and from there you can edit your statistics and simply say things like "how wonderful a job we're doing with a xx% improvement in our operations safety statistics over the last quarter with a yy% reduction in work related injuries, not to mention only 5 tow bars were busted this week", whatever. To go a step further make sure (which I'm sure you do) to de-identify 'articles' or 'subjects' when putting them into your newsletter.
I applaud your efforts.
Willie
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Our Flight Safety Officer puts out a flight safety leaflet i think twice a year which contains nearly all ASRs, some statistics out of the QAR programme and normally some indepth information about some more interestind things as well as some example from other carrier incidents. Its published electronically as well as on paper and freely distributed in all crew-rooms.
If something out of the normal happens in our company we normally get some preliminary information via email and more indepth information as soon as we know more.
So all in all its a very open safety culture and everything else would be unthinkable. We have a pretty thorough reporting system so that we generate tons of ASRs, that system is one of those things we kept from our days working for Swissair and lateron being owned by BA. Other airlines over here dont write nearly as many reports but still do open inhouse safety publishing (for example the famous CF info) and most of the time share them with safety officers of other airlines.
If something out of the normal happens in our company we normally get some preliminary information via email and more indepth information as soon as we know more.
So all in all its a very open safety culture and everything else would be unthinkable. We have a pretty thorough reporting system so that we generate tons of ASRs, that system is one of those things we kept from our days working for Swissair and lateron being owned by BA. Other airlines over here dont write nearly as many reports but still do open inhouse safety publishing (for example the famous CF info) and most of the time share them with safety officers of other airlines.
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Looking for copies of Safety Digest
This is a high quality aviation safety publication that I have two copies of. It is published by EAT or DHL and says copies are available to the public, but I can't get through to the website or an email reply. Does anyone know how to contact the appropriate people? thanks.
This is a high quality aviation safety publication that I have two copies of. It is published by EAT or DHL and says copies are available to the public, but I can't get through to the website or an email reply. Does anyone know how to contact the appropriate people? thanks.
Join Date: Jun 2006
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[QUOTE "The single most important factor in keeping you on the right side of the law is to have it written down in SOP's" Unquote
And because of the legal implications an Ops Manual then becomes a huge unwieldy arse-covering document with perhaps the more relevant and important parts obscured by superfluous information that in any case is to be found in various regulatory documents
And because of the legal implications an Ops Manual then becomes a huge unwieldy arse-covering document with perhaps the more relevant and important parts obscured by superfluous information that in any case is to be found in various regulatory documents
Join Date: May 1999
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Tee-Emm
If you're going to use a quote from one of my posts, maybe use the whole sentence in context next time, I said, "The single most important factor in keeping you on the right side of the law is to have it written down in SOP's and to be clearly seen to be discharging your responsibilities".
I wasn't suggesting for a minute that the Ops Manual be used as an arse covering document, but that procedures (obviously) and information must be communicated to flight ops personnel, and that of course includes flight safety related publications. A failure to do so, in my opinion, might be seen as a failure to discarge your responsibilities and that the publication of the flight safety digest should go ahead- that was my point.
If you're going to use a quote from one of my posts, maybe use the whole sentence in context next time, I said, "The single most important factor in keeping you on the right side of the law is to have it written down in SOP's and to be clearly seen to be discharging your responsibilities".
I wasn't suggesting for a minute that the Ops Manual be used as an arse covering document, but that procedures (obviously) and information must be communicated to flight ops personnel, and that of course includes flight safety related publications. A failure to do so, in my opinion, might be seen as a failure to discarge your responsibilities and that the publication of the flight safety digest should go ahead- that was my point.
