IATA Annual Review 2012

There is a human element
to safety that is being
addressed.
Pilot error in handling aircraft
is a contributing factor in
20% of accidents. To assist
with the rigorous training
that the industry already has
in place, IATA’s Training and
Qualification Initiative (ITQI)
has developed a number of key
training programs for pilots and
maintenance technicians.
Crew fatigue is also a key area
of focus. Led by new research
in recent years, which has
focused on the timing rather
than just the length of crew
rest periods, mitigating fatigue
has become an important element
in safety management.
IATA and ICAO are leading
the standardization process
of Fatigue Risk Management
Systems (FRMS), which have
been adopted by a number of
Civil Aviation Authorities. A joint
FRMS implementation guide
was produced in 2011, and
IATA has led a series of regional
FRMS workshops to ensure
the implementation of these
essential safety systems.
1in 5
20% of accidents count
pilot handling as a factor.
A Safety Management System
(SMS) is a systematic approach
to managing safety. It covers
all operator activities, including
areas such as organizational
structures, accountabilities,
policies, and procedures. The
world’s first SMS assessment
standards for airlines are now
included in the IOSA standards
manual, thus providing the first
global SMS benchmark. These
standards have been validated
to be in full compliance with
ICAO standards.
20
Shared safety information is
key to embedding a safety
culture worldwide.
Governments, regulators, and
the industry have a responsibility
to embed a genuine safety
culture across the industry that
encourages the open reporting
of safety incidents in a nonpunitive
atmosphere. Information
sharing is an underlying principle
of improved safety, and
the effectiveness of a safety
culture can often be measured
by reporting rates alone.
Two programs have become
particularly important for safety
data: the IATA Global Safety
Information Center (GSIC) and
the Global Safety Information
Exchange (GSIE). The GSIC
provides IATA members with
access to aggregated, de-identified
information from IATA’s
safety databases. More than
420 organizations contribute
data into six active databases,
with analysis and industry
trends displayed in more than
25 categories. Over 85% of
IATA carriers participate in the
GSIC (http://gsic.iata.org).
The GSIE agreement between
IATA, ICAO, the European
Commission, and the US
Department of Transportation
allows participating organizations
to share safety information
globally. IATA’s contribution
includes multiple forms of
GSIC safety analysis, including
information from the world’s
largest operational incident
database, and the only global
database of airline audit results
through IOSA.
Runway excursions continue
to be the leading cause of
accidents and are being addressed
with a three-year
series of regional runway safety
seminars. In addition, the Flight
Data eXchange (FDX) database
aims to address runway excursion
risks by capturing aircraft
performance data at over 700
airports worldwide. A new
Operational Data Management
(ODM) initiative will further
integrate operational data with
existing safety information.
IATA released a number of
documents in 2011 to assist
in safety efforts. These
included the second edition
of the Runway Excursion Risk
Reduction Toolkit, in partnership
with ICAO and more than
a dozen international safety
organizations. Also published
were implementation material
for competency-based
training and qualification
schemes for engineering and
maintenance and the first joint
EUROCONTROL-IATA safety
bulletin.
All these programs are aligned
in IATA’s well-established
six-point safety program to systematically
tackle the causes of
accidents. This focuses on (1)
safety data management and
analysis (2) auditing (3) safety
management systems (4) infrastructure
safety (5) operations
and (6) maintenance. The tools
and projects developed under
the six-point program are in line
with ICAO requirements and
are being increasingly adopted
by governments and regulatory
authorities worldwide. IATA welcomes
the opportunity to work
with aviation regulators to help
raise the bar for aviation safety
around the world.