Since the beginning of commercial aviation, regulators have been active in protecting the safety of public & staff. Over the years, they have laid down copious rules affecting all forms of aviation, military & civil, to enhance safety.

In all of this activity, airfield safety has seen less focus than aircraft design & operation, air traffic control systems, & aviation security.

That's now changing. The primary safety issues are now well understood & regulated. The time has come for attention to concentrate on effective safety management of all facets of airfield operation.

One of the key differences between non-airfield safety & airfields is that much of the risk on airfields is created by people, not technology.

The most crucial single issue is the variable mindset amongst staff on defensive safety -- most clearly demonstrated in areas such as FOD (foreign object debris). On some airfields, FOD is a huge imperative. On others, it is less focussed.

It's easy to understand why. It is not easy to manage thousands of staff from hundreds of companies on a major civil hub. No single point of control means diffused ownership of problems. A dropped spanner or a wind-blown plastic bag may well escape attention. Even an unsecured aircraft container may be parked in an area vulnerable to jet blast.The major regulators are well aware of these issues. Even the public were made aware of FOD by the sad loss of the Air France Concorde.

Regulators have now launched a range of Safety Management System initiatives. These initiatives are global & national, & many involve compulsory compliance. Bodies such as ICAO, IATA, ACI, CAA & FAA have all announced programmes to improve airfield safety. Cross-body co-operation is at an all time high to make sure improvement is permanent.

Several simple directives are restated again & again in these proposals. A set of criteria are becoming a requirement of operational authorisation for airport owners & operators, airlines & handling agents of all kinds.

• Staff should have clear direction on tasks.
• Staff should be trained in safety awareness, & their responsibilities to take remedial action regardless of fault.
• Inspection activities must be regular, structured, & logged.
• Repeatable consistency is key.
• Compliance must be demonstrated

Activity Manager plays a key role in supporting these initiatives. It :-

• focuses on people, & provides staff with tools to ensure consistent,
• structured, task performance.
• reinforces a safety culture, & frees operational time to protect the airfield, by removing tedious data re-entry.
• provides rapid access to feedback on one or a thousand tasks, ensuring comprehensive performance management & compliance.
• makes the impossible possible, by ensuring that collection & analysis of huge amounts of data is simple to enter, & simple to manage.
• provides feedback on operational issues, & shows how procedures & performance can be improved.