Safety Culture in Aviation Sector Aviation Safety

Safety Culture in Aviation Sector

Aviation Safety

Safety is fundamental in the aviation sector and coupled with the increasing public expectation, aviation safety has become an important aspect. The aviation industry is composed of airports, airlines, air traffic organizations and other aviation service providers and it order for them to realize their aims of delivering services, achieving production output and generating return on investments, safety is central International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), 2010.

Taking cognizant of the above facts, safety in the aviation industry is a high priority for growth and sustainability of aviation operations. The enhanced public expectations have further put the aviation industry on the spot concerning safety culture issues. Significant safety culture issues have been used by organizations in the aviation sector in order to maintain and improve safety in the industry. The adoption and implementation of a safety culture has been underscored as one of the core foundations in ensuring that safety is realized in the aviation sector. Safety culture is crucial and forms the basis for accident prevention and achievement of safety management systems.

Statement of the Problem

In all aviation activities and processes, safety is considered is the overriding factor. It has been established that a strong and robust safety culture in the aviation sector is one of the top most effective and systematic approaches to reducing accident and incident cases Leveson, 2009.

Similarly, a robust and effective safety culture has the potential of steering organizations in the aviation sector in developing effective safety management systems and therefore helping in the reduction in the rate of accidents in the sector. Unfortunately, the benefits and purposes of safety culture as one of the fundamental basis of safety management systems have not been achieved in the aviation sector. This failure or constraint in the realization of safety culture in the aviation sector can be attributed to ineffective implementation and adoption of the safety culture concept in the sector. Although airline firms have adopted the concept of safety culture, accident and incident cases are still being reported across the globe. Effective adoption, implementation and promotion of a safety culture is an assurance of a safe aviation environment while on the other hand, the non-implementation and promotion of safety culture is a major concern more so in airline firms.

Purpose of the Research

The objective of this research proposal is to examine the nature of safety culture in airline firms and to determine the challenges that affect the successful implementation of safety culture in global airline firms. The purpose of this research is to assess the adequacy, effectiveness and extend of the implementation of safety culture practices and processes in airline firms. Since safety culture is majorly propagated through the establishment of various policies, programs and safety promotional activities, the research is only restricted to the study of the safety culture policies, programs and activities among airline firms. In particular, the study seeks to determine the nature and extent to which global airline firm management are committed in ensuring that they adopt, promote and implement safety culture in their respective organizations.

Research Questions

The research questions for the study are:

1) What are the different strategies that particular airline firms use in ensuring safety culture environment?

2) Have the above safety culture issues been successful or effective in the promotion and enhancement of safety?

Research Hypothesis

The research study is based on the premise that various airline firms are currently implementing and promoting safety cultures but albeit using different strategies. The general hypothesis for the study is that the airline firms that are to be surveyed have established various safety culture approaches.

Methodology

The study is to be conducted among major global airline firms through the use of both primary and secondary data. The study intends to adopt a descriptive research design where an interview questions will be used in gathering information from the employees of the airline firms so as to get primary data. On the other hand, secondary data will be used in determining the nature of safety culture policies and strategies that each airline firm has adopted by visiting the websites of the firms. In order to carry out a more comprehensive and in depth analysis, the study will focus on three global airline firms. The study will analysis safety culture issues such as codes of practice, adherence to aviation industry standard, safety culture regulatory frameworks, safety equipment and tools, data collection and analysis. In addition, information on the number and trend of accident and incident cases in the last five years will also be gathered.

The study will rely and analyze air safety reports from the respective airline firms in order to determine the trend of safety culture. Data mining tools such as the survey of the website of the firms are the potential approaches for gathering and assessing safety culture issues that relate to accidents n incidences International Business Aviation Council, 2007.