Frontier Adding Internal Maintenance Safety Program

The Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) was designed for pilots to enhance aviation safety by voluntary reporting of safety events by employees of airlines and has now been modified for maintenance personnel. The Maintenance Safety Action Program or MSAP uses similar principles but is focused on maintenance and engineering employees. The primary purpose of an MSAP program is to identify safety events and to implement corrective measures.

Frontier Airlines has begun the process of implementing an MSAP program. Terrance Dietrich, the airline's MSAP manager, is spearheading the effort to get the MSAP program approved by the three concerned parties involved, the FAA, the airline, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the union representing maintenance and engineering personnel at Frontier.

"The unique thing about this program is the voluntary, cooperative environment for reporting safety-of-flight events," Dietrich said. This means that for reports accepted in the MSAP program, the FAA will use lesser enforcement action or no enforcement action, which is referred to as an "enforcement-related incentive." Also, no punitive action against the employee may be taken by the employer based on the good faith reporting of a safety-of-flight incident. There are five exclusions to the immunity rule. They are that the reported event must not appear to involve criminal activity, substance abuse, controlled substances, alcohol, or intentional falsification. All events will be reviewed by an event review committee (ERC) consisting of representatives of all parties (FAA, airline, union).

Once an MSAP program is set up, an employee observing a safety-related event completes a report form and submits it to the designated MSAP administrative manager. The report must be made within 24 hours of the event. The ERC will make recommendations for corrective actions. The MSAP administrator then follows through to ensure the recommended corrective actions are complied with.

"This is a culture shift," Dietrich said. "We hire competent people. If a mistake or incident occurs, why would we consider them incompetent now? Human error is going to happen. Lots of human error is being induced by the system. We want to fix structural problems if they exist and promote safety." Dietrich added that he anticipates the program will save the company money, as well as promote safety, but stressed that safety is the driver.

"If we can prevent just one incident, injury, or major event by implementing this MSAP program," said Ron McClellan, vice-president of maintenance and engineering at Frontier, "it's already well worth it to me." — By Joy Finnegan