February 2015

Safety Management

ST AT E SAFET Y What is a State Safety Programme (SSP)?

PROGRAM M E M AIN
OBJECTIVES It is trusted that the initial
article on the introduction
1. Ensuring that the State of safety management
has the minimum met with your approval.
required regulatory Feedback on posted
framework in place; articles is welcome. As
promised, this article
2. Ensuring harmonisation
focuses on the State
amongst the States
regulatory and Safety Programme
administrative (SSP).
organisations in their
respective safety risk By definition, a SSP
management roles; refers to an integrated set
of regulations and
3. Facilitating monitoring activities aimed at
and measurement of the improving safety. It is a
aggregate safety management system for
performance and the
the regulation and
States aviation industry;
administration of safety
4. Coordinating and by the State.
continuously improving
the States safety
management functions;
and

5. Supporting effective
implementation and State Safety Programme Objectives
interaction with the
service providers safety
management system.
The main objective of the SSP is the In order to achieve its objectives, the
improvement of safety in the State. management of any aviation organisation
requires the management of various
Therefore, States are required to establish business processes, therefore managing
You are invited to send your an SSP in order to achieve an acceptable
questions and comments to: safety is one such process.
level of safety in civil aviation. This is
achieved through the requirement of all
Ms Bongi Mtlokwa
sms@caa.co.za service providers or operators to establish
mtlokwab@caa.co.za and maintain a safety management system
011 545 1238 or SMS.
083 451 2683
Page 2 Safety Management

State Safety Programme Objectives

SSP further hopes to achieve efficient and effective
delivery of safety responsibilities and accountabilities
and efficient auditing of safety responsibilities. Another
important objective of the SSP is the transition from a
predominantly prescriptive regulatory environment to an
integrated regulatory environment combining prescriptive
and performance-based regulatory approaches.
There is a relationship between SSP and SMS. The SSP
is established and maintained by the State (South Africa)
to manage safety, while the SMS is established and
maintained by service providers. Therefore States are not
expected to develop an SMS but rather the SSP, which
fulfills the equivalent role
national level. States are responsible, as part of the
activities of their SSP, to accept and oversee the
development, implementation and operational
performance of the service providers SMS. SSP is
organised into a framework that consists of components
and elements. The framework and the first component will
now be focused on.
Readers are encouraged to familiarise themselves
with the Aviation Safety Programme document on
www.caa.co.za

There are four components that form the fundamentals of an SSP, in the case of South Africa; the SSP is referred to as
Aviation Safety Programme (ASP). Each component is subdivided into elements that comprise the process or activities
undertaken by the State to manage safety. Below are the four components and eleven elements of the ASP.

1. State Safety Policy and 2. Safety Risk

3. State Safety Assurance 4. State Safety Promotion
Objectives Management

1.1 State safety

legislative framework 2.1 Safety 3.1 Safety oversight 4.1 Internal training,
requirements for communication and
service providers' dissemination of
1.2 State safety SMS safety information
responsibilities and
accountabilities 3.2 Safety data
collection, analysis
1.3 Accident and and exchange
incident
investigations 4.2 External training,
2.2 Agreement on
3.3 Safety-data communication and
service providers'
driven oversight of dissemination of
1.4 Enforcement safety performance
areas of greater safety information
policy concern or need

SSP Framework
Each component, including its associated elements, is expanded on and a comparison will be done of these
components and elements and the progress made by the SACAA on the implementation of the SSP. In this article,
the focus is on element 1.1 State safety legislative framework and element 1.2 State safety responsibilities and
accountabilities. Element 1.3 and 1.4 will be discussed in the future articles.
 Safety Management Page 3

1.1 - State safety legislative framework

States are required to promulgate a national safety legislative framework and specific
regulations, in compliance with international and national standards that define how the
State will conduct the management of safety in the State. This includes the participation
of State aviation activities related to the management of safety in the State, and the
establishment of roles, responsibilities and relationships regarding such organisations.
The safety legislative framework and specific regulations must be periodically reviewed to
ensure that they remain relevant and appropriate to the State.
In addition to the Civil Aviation Act, South Africa established the Civil Aviation
Regulations (CARs) of 2011 to regulate and conduct oversight on the South African
aviation industry. Safety Management is governed by CARs Part 140. These regulations
were promulgated by the Minister of Transport on 30 June 2012 and came into effect on
01 August 2012. You may have noted that ICAO Annex 19 only became effective from
November 2013, which therefore necessitates the amendment of CARs Part 140 to be in
line with the requirements of ICAO Annex 19. The SACAA is currently finalising the
regulation amendment process. This will be followed by the Civil Aviation Technical
Standards review at a later stage.
Operators are urged to proceed with SMS implementation as per the current Part 140
Regulations. The greater part of the review process is the consolidation of all safety
management system requirements into a single Part, which is Part 140. The SACAA will commit its
resources to providing
1.2 State safety responsibilities and accountabilities technical guidance with
regard to the implementation
SSP Element 1.2 requires States to formulate their aviation safety policy and to outline of the safety management
how the States intend to manage aviation safety. This means that the State shall identify system. You are invited to
the accountabilities of all members of management, as well as of employees, with contact the SACAA for
respect to the safety performance of the organisation. The State is expected to identify guidance on SMS
the Accountable Executive the Director of Civil Aviation, who shall have ultimate implementation. The SACAA
responsibility and accountability for the safety performance of the organisation. These inspectors are trained and
responsibilities, accountabilities and authorities shall be documented and communicated ready to offer guidance and
throughout the organisation, and shall include a definition of the levels of management assistance.
with the authority to make decisions regarding safety risk tolerability.

South African Civil Aviation Safety Policy

The management of civil aviation safety and security is one of the major responsibilities of the South African Civil Aviation
Authority as defined in the Civil Aviation Act, 2009. The SACAA is committed to developing, implementing, maintaining and
constantly improving strategies and processes to ensure that all aviation activities that take place under its oversight
obligations will achieve the highest level of safety performance, while meeting both national and international standards.
The holders of the SACAA approvals are required to demonstrate that their management systems adequately reflect an
SMS approac. The expected result of this approach is improved safety management and safety practices, including safety
reporting within the civil aviation industry.
At the SACAA, all levels of management are accountable for the delivery of the highest level of safety performance within
SACAA, commencing with the Director of Civil Aviation. All levels of management of the SACAA are committed to being
involved in the Aviation Safety Programme of the SACAA and the introduction of Safety Management Systems for South
African civil aviation service providers.