ELEMENT 3.2 MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE.

Performance Objective. To develop and maintain a process to identify changes within the organization or its operational environment which may affect established processes and services and to describe the arrangements to assure safety performance before implementing changes.

Design Expectations.
(1) The following will not be implemented until the SRM process (Component 2.0) is
accomplished:
                  (a) New system designs,
                  (b) Changes to existing system designs,
                  (c) New operations/procedures, and
                  (d) Modified operations/procedures.

Management of Change : A management of change process should identify changes within the organization which may affect established processes, procedures, products, and services. Before implementing changes, a management of change process should describe the arrangements to ensure safety performance. The result of this process is the reduction in the safety risks resulting from changes in the provision of services by the organization. Management of change should consider the criticality of the system and activities, the stability of the system and operational environment and past performance of the system.

Management of Change
            Aviation organizations experience constant change due to expansion and introduction of new equipment or procedures. Changes can introduce new hazards or risks which can impact the appropriateness or effectiveness of previous risk mitigation. External changes would include change of regulatory requirements, security status/level or rearrangement of air traffic control/provisions, etc. Internal changes can involve management/organizational changes, new equipment introduction or new procedures, etc.
            A formal management of change process should identify changes within or from outside the organization which may affect established processes and services from a safety viewpoint. Prior to implementing such changes, the new arrangements should be assessed using the SMS hazard and risk analysis protocol to assure operational safety.

Purpose of Change Management

           The purpose of change management in  aviation SMS system is to ensure that all methods and processes are standardized across every department within organisation. Using the best practices of change management, organization will have an established, controlled environment to record, evaluate hazards, authorize implementation, document, and review changes to your organization whenever your operating environment changes.

             Why is Change Management Important : When airlines and airports don't have formal strategies for implementing organizational change, it is like going shopping without your shopping list. How many times have you gone shopping and forgotten an item, only to realize you forgot it days later. This is just a quick example demonstrating the importance of change management. In order to manage change effectively, airlines and airports should have a documented template in order to ensure repeated successful change management. If the template doesn't work, no problem, modify the template. After all, an aviation SMS program is designed to be a living, breathing system that is flexible. However, there should be a documented change process for changing your strategies for managing change. Kind of funny, but it is true.

Who Manages Change Management Activities

Within organisation, change management activities are often managed by the safety manager. Approval for changes are authorized by the safety committee. The size and complexity of the airline and airport will typically determine the number personnel needed to manage change management activities. Smaller organizations often have very informal change management processes, but when you have an implemented, formal aviation safety management system, these "informal" activities will have to be documented completely in order to withstand an audit.
SMS Element 3.2 Management of Change

Description : A formal process for systematic and proactive identification of hazards and of appropriate mitigation strategies and measures, to be applied to all changes concerning the safety of services provided by an aviation organisation.

The Need for Change Management : Aviation organisations experience permanent change due to expansion, contraction, changes to existing systems, equipment, programmes, products and services, and introduction of new equipment or procedures. Hazards may inadvertently be introduced into an operation whenever change occurs. Safety management practices require that hazards that are a by-product of change be systematically and proactively identified and appropriate measures to manage the safety risks of the consequences of hazards be identified, implemented and subsequently evaluated.

            A change can introduce new hazards, impact the appropriateness of existing safety risk mitigation strategies and/or impact the effectiveness of existing safety risk mitigation means. Changes may be external to the organisation, or internal. Examples of external changes include changes in regulatory requirements and reorganisation of air traffic control. Examples of internal changes include management changes, new equipment and new procedures.

Change Management Considerations

A formal process for change management should take into account the following three considerations:

• Criticality of systems and activities. Criticality is closely related to safety risk. Criticality relates to the potential consequences of equipment being improperly operated or an activity being incorrectly executed — essentially answering the question, “how important is this equipment/activity to safe system operations?” While this is a consideration that should be made during the system design process, it becomes relevant during a situation of change. Clearly, some activities are more essential for safe delivery of services than others. Equipment and activities that have higher safety criticality should be reviewed following change to make sure that corrective actions can be taken to control potentially emerging safety risks.

• Stability of systems and operational environments. Changes may be the result of programmed change such as growth, operations to new destinations, changes in fleets, changes in contracted services, or other changes directly under the control of the organisation. Changes in the operational environment are also important, such as economic or financial status, changes in political or regulatory environments, or changes in the physical environment such as cyclical changes in weather patterns. While these factors are not under the direct control of the organisation, it must take action to respond to them.

• Past performance. Past performance of critical systems is a proven indicator of future performance. This is where the closed-loop nature of safety assurance comes into play. Trend analyses in the safety assurance process should be employed to track safety performance measures over time and to factor this information into the planning of future activities under situations of change. Moreover, where deficiencies have been found and corrected as a result of past audits, evaluations, investigations or reports, it is essential that such information is considered to assure the effectiveness of corrective actions.

Role of Change Management

A formal change management process should identify changes within the organisation which may affect established processes, procedures, products and services. All necessary arrangements to ensure safety performance should be identified and described prior to implementing changes. The result of this process is the reduction in the safety risks resulting from changes in the provision of services by the organisation to as low as reasonably practical (ALARP) level.

System description is one of the fundamental preliminary activities in the planning of an SMS. The objective of the system description is to determine a baseline hazard analysis for the baseline system. As the system evolves, seemingly small, incremental changes in the system (or the environment which provides the context of operation) can accumulate over time, which will make the initial system description inaccurate. Therefore, as part of a formal process of the management of change, the system description and the baseline hazard analysis should be reviewed periodically, even if circumstances of change are not present, to determine their continued validity. When changes to the system are made, and periodically thereafter, an organisation should go over its system, its anticipated, and its actual operational environment, to make sure it continues to hold a clear picture of the circumstances under which the provision of service takes place.