16 Feb 19:
The FAA has some excellent resources on the components of a personal Safety Management System, the latest discusses Risk Management, one of the 4 pillars.
(Author assessing risk on an Alcort Super Sailfish 2019).
Risk management is a structured way of dealing with hazards. It is a logical process of evaluation where you weigh the potential costs of a risk against the potential benefits you might receive, if you allowed that risk to stand uncontrolled. In order to better understand risk management, the terms “hazard” and “risk” need to be understood.
A hazard is a present condition, event, object, or circumstance that could lead to or contribute to an unplanned or undesired event such as injury to people or or damage to property. It is a source of danger. Examples of common aviation hazards include a nick in the propeller blade, a nick from a propeller blade, improper refueling of an aircraft, pilot fatigue, and the use of unapproved hardware on the aircraft.
If pilots do not recognize a hazard and choose to continue, the involved risk is not managed.
Risk management is a three-step process that people use to:
-identify hazards,
-express how likely those hazards are to negatively impact their operations. This involves classification of hazards using a risk assessment tool that properly identifies frequency and severity of an occurrence. A hazard that presents low risk and occurs infrequently may only require awareness of the risk, whereas a hazard that occurs frequently and results in loss of life and/or property must be eliminated or avoided.
-reduce the chances that those hazards will cause an accident.
FAA Safety Risk Management Brief
(Author on right, HMLA-369, Desert Shield 1990).
I wrote a chapter on Practical Risk Management for the book
Implementing Safety Management Systems in Aviation,
the chapter is available separately through Kindle or Amazon.
Here's a note about Practical Risk Management:
"Risk management is one of the 4 pillars of a safety management system: Policy, Risk Management, Assurance and Promotion. Practical risk management is about realizing that tragic mishaps lay in our future, unless the multiple hazards that combine to create risk are identified and controlled. The risk management process is the “engine” that drives a generative safety management system (FAA 2008). As part of this system, hazards are proactively identified by systems experts prior to mishaps in order to create information about risk. “Information is best understood within the context where the individuals make choices, i.e. utilize the information” (Leng, 2009). Armed with this unique perspective, better strategic risk decisions can be made, reducing the need for risky and reactive tactical risk decisions. Through valid risk analysis and assessment, preventative measures are crafted and implemented that eliminate or reduce the severity and frequency of mishaps."
You could also buy the entire book
If you have questions, please leave a comment below.
Fly Smart
"Clark"
