International Group Urges Use of Safety Management Systems

An international coalition is urging helicopter operators to adopt safety management systems as a means of improving rotorcraft safety. The International Helicopter Safety Team, launched in 2005 to cut helicopter accident rates 80 percent by 2016, has just begun its work to develop pragmatic means of doing that. But team leaders argue that safety management system is the foundation on which all other training, operational, and technological advances must be built. “A good, strong SMS is a springboard” for other improvements, said Fred Brisbois, director of aviation and product safety for Sikorsky Aircraft and one of the team leaders. To help operators adopt such systems, the team has developed an on-line tool kit, which is available at www.ihst.org.