AACM organizes ICAO Safety Management System Course

In accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) on  safety management in Annexes 6, 11 and 14 of the Chicago Convention (or the Convention on International Civil Aviation), aircraft operators and maintenance organizations are required to implement safety management system with effect from January 2009. To comply with this requirement by the Macao registered airlines and maintenance organizations, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) organized an ICAO Safety Management System (SMS) Course from 7 to 11 July 2008 for the local industry. The course was conducted by ICAO experts in safety management.

The course aimed at developing participants’ knowledge of safety management concepts and ICAO SARPs as well as their knowledge to certify and oversee the implementation of key components of a basic SMS in compliance with relevant ICAO SARPs and national regulations. The course was a train-the-trainers programme. Therefore, the participants were either instructors or personnel responsible for SMS in their administrations who attended the course and would then adapt the materials to provide further training to their colleagues.

The five-day course was conducted by Captain Fareed Ali Shah, ICAO Regional Flight Safety Officer and Captain Len Cormier, Chief Technical Adviser of Cooperative Development of Operational Safety & Continuing Airworthiness Programme of ICAO. Both speakers possess enriching knowledge and experience in the SMS field. The main topics included new perspectives and methods for managing safety, hazard identification and analysis, risk management, key features of safety management, planning and implementation of an SMS and so on.

The notion of safety management contains two concepts: a safety programme and a SMS. The safety programme is a set of regulations and activities aimed at improving safety and to be implemented by the regulator. The SMS is an approach to managing safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures, to be implemented by airlines, maintenance organizations, air traffic services providers and aerodrome operators. The Macau International  Airport implemented its SMS in the end of 2005 in accordance with Annex 14 of the Chicago Convention. In addition, AACM sent personnel to Bangkok to lecture the ICAO Aerodrome SMS course targeting at the aeronautical authorities and the airports of South East Asia in 2006 and 2007.

The training was attended by about 30 participants coming from CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd., Administration of Airports Ltd., Air Macau, East Asia Airlines, VIVA Macau, Macau Jet, Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. In addition, the Air Traffic Office of thePhilippinesand the aeronautical authorities ofThailandshowed their participation in the same course.

Ensuring aviation safety is one of the core responsibilities of AACM. In March 2009, the Authority will participate in the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme which is conducted by ICAO on its 190 member states for the objective of ensuring the safety of international aviation. ICAO will conduct an on-site audit on AACM to assess whether the latter has fully performed its responsibility in safety oversight. To prepare for this audit, AACM is taking a proactive manner in following up their compliance with the Chicago Convention. The Authority will participate in the Regional Seminar in the Preparation, Conduct and the Reporting of an ICAO Safety Oversight Audit held in Hong Kong from 14 to 16 July 2008. 

The Civil Aviation Authority organized an ICAO Safety Management System Course for the local industry to prepare for the implementation of Safety Management System in January 2009 in Macao.