Getting started with an SMS is often the most difficult thing,
and that's what I've experienced in many organisations,
is just making a start.
That's the hardest bit, and once an SMS has been started,
once the ball is rolling, then it becomes easier and easier
and it helps manage itself if it's been well structured.
In the video there, it shows the initial approach from John
was to appoint someone who might not have been the best safety officer,
and almost as a punishment for something they might have done wrong.
People in key positions in the Safety Management System
need to be enthusiastic.
As the video says, they need to be champions of the cause.
They need to have a good understanding
of what a Safety Management System is,
believe in it and be passionate about it,
and need to be supported, certainly by the management team.
The cost and inconvenience of fixing a trolley
and putting a brake in a trolley is certainly very minor
compared towards the cost of replacing a propeller,
taking an engine out and having an aircraft offline -
that costs a significant amount of money.
Might be covered by insurance, but, as the video points out,
having an accident or an incident
can certainly drive your insurance premiums up,
so in the end it does cost money.
The scenario in the video that shows Nathan complaining about the noise
and the impact on his sleep in the hotel in Griffith there,
it's a realistic one.
Yeah, you young blokes, I don't know.
When I was your age, I'd sleep under the wing in a raincoat
with a packed lunch and a thermos.
It's quite realistic in so much that the original instance,
it's the pilot's problem and the pilot has to get over it,
and, "Back in my day we slept under the wing,"
and, you know, "You don't know how good you've got it,"
and that sort of way of thinking.
Whereas with a Safety Management System,
I suppose, the evolution of thinking
and how it's demonstrated in the video
is that it becomes an issue the organisation needs to be aware of
and the organisation needs to mitigate -
it's not just pilot error all the time
or the pilots whingeing or the pilots complaining.
The organisation needs to be cognisant
of what environmental conditions they're giving their workers
and how that can impact safety.
As the video shows, working together with another organisation,
so the video shows the maintenance organisation
putting a hand out to the flying organisation,
saying, "Hey, we can work together here,"
and the same applies to the other organisations
who understand there's commercial competitors out there
for most businesses.
But if you're working together with competitors in this case,
it's a win-win situation -
if you can pool your data together you can identify hazards.
If you're trading information, or identify hazards
that your competitor is having
that you haven't thought of or haven't experienced yet.
The definition of a good management practice
is, of course, very negotiable
because it depends on what outcomes you're looking for.
When you look at the gentleman managing the operation in your film,
it is quite obvious that there are
some pretty good management practices going on
in terms of keeping the business running,
keeping clients happy, being a strong leader
with a decisive mindset.
However, what I've learned and what the research keeps returning
is that leadership, or management commitment,
to safety as a number-one priority
is THE most, and keeps coming back as THE most important element
of a safe or high-reliability organisation.
-..as well as the crates. -Yep.
SIDNEY DEKKER: The personal relationships
that a manager has with the people working for her or him are key.
And what does that mean?
Let me give you an example of a captain...
..in fact, a lady captain I flew with.
She said to me, "Now, before we begin,
"if there's anything about what I do that you don't like, you tell me.
"You let me know, and I'll do the same."
Now, that creates a climate
in which it is OK to give bad news to the boss,
and I think that is key.
That is, in fact, my key to a safety culture.
That is a culture that allows the boss to hear bad news.
Small organisations are like families and very often ARE families,
and what's surprising is that, of course, families, as small units,
can be deeply dysfunctional in their communication.
So can small organisations.
The issue is that once you start playing around
with safety-critical things,
like flying people around, flying goods around,
you have no excuse
to have a dysfunctional pattern of communication, really,
because you're close enough together,
the lines, as I said earlier, are short enough,
and so people should be able to go across those thresholds
and speak to each other about these things,
even if it means bad news or stopping production.
Now, sometimes this may require some outside mediation
or a push from outside,
or perhaps the wake-up call of an incident
that you really didn't want to have.
Then you need to be honest about it and say,
"Actually, we ALL contributed to the creation of the conditions
"that set up this incident.
"This wasn't just pilot error.
"This was something that we all contributed to."
It's only with that honesty and openness
that everybody has a contribution to make
to both safety and risk
that I think communication channels can be open and meaningful.
Well, I want to bring up the point of Rowan's Trucks
and the way they pack their crates.
If we look at the initial culture,
we would call that a pathological-reactive culture
where the communication is quite poor
and people are blaming everybody else for anything going wrong,
as you saw John blaming,
where people are putting out fires continuously.
If you go back and have a look at that...
..the post-it notes everywhere and trying to address all the issues
and becoming overwhelmed by it,
and new ideas are discouraged.
And we saw that suggestion of a Safety Management System
was dismissed.
That's typical of that type of culture.
In the second scenario
we saw what we call a generative culture,
which is the top of the tree.
It's evolved into where we have strong leadership,
people are accountable, people are taking responsibility,
if you look at John.
You have people being empowered
to take on the role of a safety manager.
What I like about generative cultures
is that it's all about... it's commitment, not compliance.
You know, they go above the compliance, not the bare minimum.
It's commitment from management, from the top level,
which filters right down, empowers people.
Probably one of the best things that any organisation can do
is look at the people that they have within the organisation.
A very good example is Trish in the clip.
She's fresh out of university -
lots of fresh information in her mind still
from her university course.
The engineers have a fantastic knowledge
that they can bring to the pilots.
And even the front desk staff
learning more about what everyone else's role does
is very important for enriching the safety culture
of an organisation.
So the first thing an organisation can do is harness that -
get the people together,
find exactly what you have in your pool of resources
in terms of your people.
And I think you'll find that a lot of organisations
have a tremendous wealth in the experience and the education
of the people that they have in their organisation.
Do a gap analysis of your human resources,
find out what you have,
and then you can use those resources
to basically build your defences up in your Safety Management System -
build your Safety Management System up
to a level where it's going to make your business efficient as well.