Description

To continually improve on existing levels of commercial air transport safety amid industry challenges, the safety management system (SMS) became mandatory worldwide for specified airlines in March 2006. The concept evolved from guidelines, proofs of concept and prototypes pioneered by the airline industry in the early 1990s.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) urges each of the world’s airlines to fully implement a unique SMS, adhering to international standards and recommended practices.

A 2017 working paper presented by the United States to the Technical Commission of ICAO Assembly 37th Session said, “Service providers’ safety management systems, and particularly the interactions between the State Safety Program (SSP) and the network of SMSs in the State’s air transportation system, must … be considered. It is in these interactions where the oversight functions become important, so the performance of service providers [e.g., airlines] is a key target of measurements of safety performance.”