Safety is like virtue, in that safety is its own reward. Here are a few additional self audit questions that supplement those provided as policy guidance by Flight Safety Foundation President Bill Voss [in the May 2012 edition of AeroSafety World http://flightsafety.org/aerosafety-world-magazine/current-issue]:
1. Is a safety program valuable and working or is it a well documented paper work of art?
2. Is the safety manager someone everyone knows, who is out and about everyday tracking down and eliminating hazards and communicating with anyone and everyone OR is the manager writing glowing self-appraisals in an office away from the operation?
3. Is the safety program in place to serve the interests of the company that is to save the company the enormous costs of the injuries and damage caused by accidents and the time wasted investigating these OR is the safety program self serving and in many ways in opposition to or in conflict with the company, standing in the way of aggressive and innovative operations?
4. Is the safety program engaged with every employee and member of the organization, every manager, supervisor and administrator OR is it a window dressing program ready to display to the next outside inspector, auditor or investigator?
5. Is the safety program constantly reinventing itself, finding what else is wrong and fixing it, keeping one step ahead of the next mishap OR is it too busy investigating last month’s accident to be involved in preventing next weeks mishap?
In my opinion, if you add these five questions to the great audit base recommended by Flight Safety Foundation President Bill Voss, you might be able to use SMS as a way to make your company better and better, year after year.
Remember that Safety, like virtue, is its own reward.
