Our Priorities

Q: What is SMS and what does it mean for airlines?
A: A Safety Management System (SMS) is a set of policies, processes, and systems used to identify and mitigate or eliminate safety hazards and risks. It means every activity an airline engages in - whether it be flying an aircraft, servicing engines, or any of the thousands of steps it takes to get you from point A to B - is designed in a way that eliminates or reduces the potential for errors or accidents.

Q: Is the implementation of SMS placing aviation safety at risk in Canada?
A: SMS adds a layer of safety to what is already one of the safest industries in existence. SMS increases oversight by utilizing ever more sophisticated risk management techniques, including enhanced two-way safety communication and data trending, to uncover safety hazards. It is applied on top of all the existing safety and quality tools.

Q: How does SMS promote aviation safety?
A: SMS airlines have processes in place to monitor, investigate and learn from every safety-related incident or issue, no matter how small, so that potential safety issues are dealt with before they occur. Everyone airline employee takes ownership for identifying, assessing and addressing safety risks. 

Q: Does SMS mean airlines are policing themselves with no government inspections or oversight?
A: No. Transport Canada continues to inspect airlines under SMS and it requires full disclosure on any aspect of operations related to safety. SMS is a partnership whereby airlines are required to implement more sophisticated internal oversight systems than ever before. It gives Transport Canada a new ability to evaluate how each carrier identifies and manages risks because airlines must provide greater detail about their safety procedures.

Q: How does the SMS assessment process work?
A: The assessment process is not just a general review of procedures and data, but includes digging into specific safety issues to find evidence of what has been done to address these issues. Airlines must show Transport Canada evidence they identified root causes, took associated corrective and preventative action and verified the effectiveness of any mitigation steps. SMS seeks to find unknown risks, which is far beyond what simple regulator on-site inspection ever did..

Q: Are there penalties for airlines that have unsafe practices under SMS?
A: Yes. Transport Canada continues to audit airlines under SMS and it retains the ability to penalize airlines that violate safety rules. Importantly, though, it also encourages airlines to be candid, forthcoming and transparent so issues can be quickly identified and resolved.