Safety culture implementation challenges in global airline firms

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.

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.

Aviation Quality Database (AQD) will be used for analysis since it is capable of comprehensively analyzing safety management and quality assurance issues. Similarly, AQD also provides other tools for gathering data and analyzing them.

The underlying ethical issues that are bound to arise when carrying out the above research are autonomy and informed consent Wood, 2006.

Access and informed consent, particularly when seeking interviews with the employees of the airline firms are fundamental ethical issues. Consent will therefore be sought from the relevant authorities before embarking on the survey. The study is committed to adhere to the above ethical issues when conducting the research.

Interview Questions

Title / position

Airline Firm / Company

1) What are some of the safety culture policies, activities that this airline firm has put in place?

2) What methods or tools does the airline firm use in ensuring a safety culture environment?

3) In the past five years, how many accidents and incidents have occurred in the airline

4) Were the above accidents or incidents linked to flaws in the safety culture?

5) What are most significant challenges the airline faces in implementing safety culture policies, activities and programs.

6) Does the airline firm adhere to the set out international aviation standards in relation to safety culture issues