Definition of Hazard Identification

Hazard identification in aviation safety management systems is the most basic performance needed for a successful safety program. It is part of the Safety Risk Management element of the 4 Pillars of SMS. At face value, hazard identification is fairly simple: awareness and recognition of potential danger in the operational environment. In aviation SMS programs, hazard identification is complicated by the fact that:

• Hazard identification needs to be adopted as a formal process.

Formal process means that hazard identification processes can be:

• Described;
• Controlled/improved; and
• Quantified into safety data (i.e. safety performance monitoring).

Hazard identification processes should be based on a combination of reactive, proactive, and predictive methods of safety data collection. The reason it’s important to understand hazard identification as a process is because identifying hazards happens as a result of several actions in the aviation SMS program, including:

• Awareness building activities;
• Safety culture building activities;
• Actively recognizing threats in the environment; and
• Reporting threats in a formal hazard reporting tool (i.e. aviation SMS software or paper hazard reporting form).

Process of Hazard Identification

As said, what the “process” of identifying hazards entails is that hazard identification is the result of many actions within the safety program. The hazard reporting process can be summarized in 3 stages.

First stage: awareness and safety culture building activities. This stage of the hazard identification process is designed for stimulating performance of identification ability, such as with:

• Aviation safety training;
• Aviation safety meetings;
• Safety newsletters and other en mass forms of communicating safety;
• Aviation safety policies and procedures;
• Safety checklists.

Second stage: recognizing hazards in the operational environment. This stage is the actual action of perceiving threats in the workplace:

• Understanding risk factors;
• Understanding hazards and risk controls;
• Understanding how human behavior contributes to or mitigates safety exposure; and
• Recognizing all of the above in the everyday work environment.

Third stage: reporting hazards and other safety issues. This stage simply involves reporting issues through the formal hazard process, which usually is:

• An aviation SMS software with accompanying aviation safety database;
• A hazard report online or physically (paper); or
• Other hazard reporting method, such as an excel spreadsheet.

All three stages are essential for sufficient hazard identification.

How is Hazard Identification Compliance Element is Satisfied

The hazard identification element of aviation SMS is satisfied when:

• An organization has a reporting system to capture safety issues;
• The reporting system is actually being used on a regular basis;
• Employees at all levels of the organization are using the reporting system;
• Documentable steps are being taken (i.e. safety training) to improve the hazard identification process;
• Personnel express confidence in hazard reporting tools, policies, and procedures; and
• Reported hazards are documented and kept available for future use.

This element is satisfied when safety issues are being identified and reported in the organization, and then acted upon in a timely manner. Based on the reported issues, safety management should close the feedback loop by curtailing safety awareness to the most relevant safety issues.

What is the Operational Environment?

An extremely important topic to briefly discuss is what the operational environment is in the aviation SMS program. Too often programs are under the impression that front line employees are the only people who should be identifying safety concerns and reporting them.

This comes from misunderstanding the operational environment as, essentially, the location where actual operations take place – such as the runway, baggage handling areas, etc. In fact, the operational environment is much more extensive than this, and needs to be understood as including:

• Bureaucratic safety concerns: such as office work, data entry, etc.;
• Corporate safety concerns: such as web security, upper management involvement, etc.;
• Oversight safety concerns: such as impending compliance requirements; and
• External concerns: such as new technological developments that impact safety (e.g., Drones).

Long story short, the operational environment is any factor that has bearing on safety. These factors exist internally at a front line, bureaucratic, and upper management level. These factors also exist externally with technological changes and oversight agencies.

Final Thought: Tip for Immediately Improving Identifying Hazards

A fantastic way to immediately improve hazard identification is to:

• Understand your current hazard identification approach; and/or
• Choose a hazard identification approach.

While every aviation SMS program will use a combination of approaches to identifying hazards, each program will also stress one approach more than others. We understand this as the primary approach to hazard identification. 4 primary approaches to consider are:

1. Data driven approach (predictive): curtail safety awareness efforts to historical hazard reporting data trends in order to predict the most relevant and important hazards in future operation environment;
2. SWIFT approach: the Structured What If approach uses hypothetical scenarios to anticipate potential hazards in the operation environment – these scenarios are usually manufactured by a core team of safety personell;
3. Community approach (performing): relies heavily on the ability of ALL employees to accurately and quickly identify any sort of safety concern in the operational environment;
4. Leadership approach (top-down): empowers highly knowledgeable individuals to be responsible for monitoring operational environment and reporting a majority of safety concerns.

In this article, we explore these tips for identifying hazards in more detail.