FAA Issues Supplemental Rulemaking On Safety Management Systems

Seyfarth Synopsis: The FAA has gotten closer to a conceptual model for the safety management system requirements and standards that will be required for certified airports.

At the World Safety Organization International Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Symposium this week we attended a session on the Federal Aviation Administration's recent Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) on safety management systems (SMS) for certificated airports. 81 Fed. Reg. 45872 (July 14, 2016) . The session was presented by William G. Thompson, the OSHA/SMS Manager at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The SNRPM was an update for the original Advanced Notice of Rulemaking, published in October 2010. 75 Fed. Reg. 62008. In its news release on the SMS update, the FAA indicated that "SMS is a formal approach to managing an organization's safety through four key components – safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and