Guidelines for an airport safety management system

The Italian Regulations for airport construction and service, drawn up by ENAC, recommend the airport manager to adopt a Safety Management System (SMS), by the end of 2005. The SMS is the instrument considered necessary in order to enhance the safety levels in the airport. This need arises from the fact that, in the last few years, air traffic has continuously increased and consequently, airfield operations have similarly grown. This has caused an increase in “runway incursion” phenomena, associated with physical interferences and “contacts” between aircraft manoeuvring in the aprons or taxiways. This paper highlights that, with the objective of appropriate airport activity, each component of the airport area being designed according to the operational standards of the airport itself it is not sufficient, whereas rules and procedures suitable for different functional scenarios are a necessity for a safe exploitation of the infrastructure. The paper explains the requirements for a correct airport system implementation: a safety-oriented management approach, an organization effectively based on safety requirements and a system with safety being its main goal. The paper also presents the guidelines to be followed for drawing up an airport SMS, paying attention to each single phase of the procedures, such as: identification of the objectives to be reached, planning of the intervention priorities, selecting the most suitable procedures to achieve these objectives, evaluation of the performance levels through continuous monitoring of the system condition.