The aviation industry has reached an unprecedented safety level. This is an outstanding achievement taking into consideration that global air traffic is on the rise and every new aircraft becomes technically more sophisticated. Of course, one of the reasons for this achievement is superior technology. However, without a crew that performs well technology would be useless. A considerable body of evidence indicates that one reason for this strong safety track record in aviation is due to airlines conducting Crew Resource Management trainings as means to improve team performance. Initially inspired by management as a team development intervention, Crew Resource Management has become a de-facto standard in the aviation industry. Is it time for management to re-adapt what the aviation industry has developed to the next level?
In this CQ Dossier we focus on how to implement an effective safety policy. We draw on safety research to propose a series of recommendations on how to implement such a policy. The dossier describes the key elements of an effective safety policy and then describes how best to implement these characteristics to create an effective safety climate for the organization.
