By Captain Alex DeSilvaDivisional Vice PresidentSafety, Security & Environment

The Dichotomy of Safety and Security – A Review

Symposium Topics

» Cabin Safety

» Security

Should Safety & Security be Separate? - Impact of 911

What happened to Flight Deck/Cabin Relationship?

Look at your Symposium programme…

(Forgive my English spelling!!!)

Do you see how we‘compartmentalise’

safety, health and security?

The Safety Compartment

• Safety, health and security are often seen as stand-alone items… Why?

1. This is how it is taught.

2. My airline has a ‘Safety & Security’ department.

3. This is a ‘Cabin Safety’ Symposium.

THREAT AND ERROR MANAGEMENT

• Health and Security are not just ‘vertical’ issues – they are also lateral. They should spread across the organisation as well as up and down.

• If we compartmentalise ‘Safety’ employees will also do this.

• It will affect their ‘free thought’ processes - and make them rigid.

• Today’s Safety & Security threats require thinking employees…

Ear drops for the R ear

• A physician ordered ear drops to be administered to the right ear of a patient suffering pain and infection there.

Ear drops for the R ear

• Instead of writing out completely the location ‘Right ear’ on the prescription, the doctor abbreviated it so that the instructions read, “Place in R ear”

Ear drops for the R ear!

• Upon receiving the prescription, the duty nurse promptly put the required number of ear drops into the patient’s “rear”.

But we don’t naturally think rigidly

• We all have the capacity to make sense of complexity.

• And I’ll demonstrate this to as you read the following slide…

• Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porsbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Uncompartmentalised Safety

• Employees need freedom to use their minds - as you have just used yours...

• Then, if the Safety threat is scrambled and unclear (as it often is!) the ‘uncompartmentalised’ mind can still make sense of it - and react favourably.

Safety & Security – it’s the business!So…

• We should not look at safety as a ‘stand alone’.

• We really need to look at cabin safety as part of the overall safety culture of an organisation.

• The CEO must be ultimately responsible - and this will never happen if airlines view cabin issues outside the business environment.

LINE OPERATIONS SAFETY AUDIT (LOSA)

• Health Check

• Using Trained Observers

LOSA FOR RAMP & CABIN

• Anecdotal evidence into Fact

• Justify Additional Spending

GROUND/RAMP ACCIDENTS

• Many different employee groups (including Flight/Cabin Crew)

THE SINGAPORE GRIP

SIA’s Fus³ion Course• Safety

• Security• Service

IATA OPERATIONS SAFETY AUDIT (IOSA)

• Covers safety aspects of all operational areas

• Meets FAA Code-Share Needs

The message AGAIN…

• EMBED Safety and Health and Security… within your own self… within your work and within your organisation.

• Remember - procedures are good - but vertical.

• So think laterally to defend the gaps!

THANK YOU