EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, together with SMATSA, the Serbian air navigation service provider, recently organized a workshop bringing together aviation and legal experts to discuss how to implement a ‘Just Culture’ in aviation. In a Just Culture environment, negligence is not tolerated, but front line operators know that they will not be punished for their actions or decisions taken by them. In recent years there has been a growing concern on the part of aviation professionals that those who report incidents could be at increased risk of litigation or sanctions. “Every efficient safety management system is primarily dependent on voluntary submission of information by the staff that are, due to nature of their work, in position to notice a potential hazard and react to it…In order to make all the participants in this process encouraged and motivated to report mistakes or problems in work, there must exist a favorable climate in the organization, such as just culture,” said SMATSA. “In order to ensure that individuals continue to report incidents, we must put in place a culture whereby they do not fear judicial consequences unless they have been negligent or have willfully violated rules,” said EUROCONTROL’s Roderick van Dam. “Just culture is the only way to proceed towards enhancing safety. “EUROCONTROL has been asked to set up effective working arrangements for building Just Culture. The aim would be to establish a pan-European Just Culture network.