Abstract
This report highlights the procedure and intent of conducting Line Operation Safety Audit (LOSA) for airline companies. This audit is carried out to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of safety management systems in airlines. In the light of its findings, airline management could clearly see the scope of improvement in complying with required safety standards and regulations. Flight crews could also judge their performance and improvise their skills to strengthen safety envelope. This report will briefly present the procedure and characteristics of LOSA.
The report covers all essential elements of LOSA. Firstly, introduction to LOSA is provided containing it's formal definition and intent. Some other safety analysis methods like FOQA and ASAP are introduced. The comparison of safety analysis is performed. Importance of LOSA audit is presented in detail. Next, the elements of LOSA are discussed. The choice of observers and their selection criteria are highlighted. LOSA observation form is not provided but it's significance is shared. The report also gives requirements for conducting a LOSA. The suitable frequency is mentioned to be three years. At the end, appendix provides framework for carrying out safety audit. For this purpose Threat and Error Management (TEM) is used.
Introduction
This report briefly introduces the purpose and procedure for carrying out Line Operation Safety Audit (LOSA) based on at an airline company. LOSA basically provides safety assessment of airlines in realm of operational complexity, performance of crews, environmental impact, and some other conditions. It reflects the strong and weak points in following safety standards and regulations. Airlines could reduce threats and improve safety culture by following recommendations provided in LOSA.
LOSA provides useful information in addition to some other proactive safety analysis techniques like FOQA and ASAP. The former is based on electronic data acquisition systems and the latter relies on methods of voluntary reporting on safety standards. LOSA is not entirely different from FOQA and ASAP, but is dissimilar to these programs from the following aspects:
FOQA and ASAP analyze safety performance based on specific outcomes. The former takes care of flight parameters and the latter closely monitors adverse conditions and incidents reported by flight crews in airlines. LOSA differs from them by examining all the routine activities as it studies the successful and unsuccessful flight management processes.
Another major difference lies in the perspective of the results quoted by these safety audits. FOQA presents outcomes purely focusing on airlines’ data; ASAP analyzes pilot’s performance and their adherence to safety principles taking input from self-reporting culture of airlines. LOSA provides its safety diagnosis from third party perspective since its observers record every safety aspect regardless of outcome.
The last major difference between these safety programs lies in their operational frequency. FOQA and ASAP are carried out on daily basis while LOSA takes plenty of time in planning, arranging observers, training, data collection, analysis of results, and preparing final report. The whole process of LOSA may take a year and it is recommended to carry out every 3 years.
Despite the differences in analysis methods, they complement each other very well and their results could be integrated easily to provide vivid picture about safety management system of airlines.
Importance of LOSA
LOSA provides useful information about weaknesses and shortcomings of defensive system of airlines. The importance of LOSA is highlighted in the light of the following points.
LOSA observers carefully notice threats in the operational environment of airlines. Some examples are congestions, airport conditions, weather calamities, and air traffic control clearances etc.
LOSA also points out the risks inside the working environment of airlines related to error prevention, time management of flights, time pressure, and problems related to ramp, ground, maintenance, and crews.
It could be easily visualized the training directions that are incorporated in the flight management systems by LOSA observers.
LOSA picks weaknesses in operational procedures. They can be misleading at times and pilots may not be adhering to them. Observers will point out such mal-operations qualitatively and quantitatively.
With the help of LOSA, designs flaws in interface and adaptation could be easily highlighted. The suggestions need to be incorporated in approved procedure to enhance safety culture.
Flight crews use some kind of shortcuts and tricks to bypass procedures at times to achieve their purpose. LOSA critically evaluates such shortcuts in the light of safety considerations and corrects them.
It is important to know the accident and incident initiators and precursors. LOSA reflects on how close airlines are operating near their safety boundaries to avoid undesired situations that endanger life of passengers and flight crews.
LOSA provides suggestions and guidelines to improve safety standards in airline companies. Follow-up is required to ensure strict compliance with provided instructions.
Since LOSA provides strong and weak aspects related to safety management systems, organizations can plan for resources for bringing about positive change.
Involvement in a LOSA
For carrying out LOSA, it is mandatory to find useful observers that could provide valuable feedback related to flight operations, management, standards, safety issues etc.
First of all, the involvement of training department of flight crews is essential since they are aware of the areas that need to be carefully focused. Moreover, it is their responsibility to provide adequate training to flight crews in the light of LOSA. They will reap benefits from LOSA findings.
Next, the involvement of flight crews and pilots in the LOSA process is valuable in careful evaluation of safety situation in airlines. The pilots should develop trust on observers if their higher management has already agreed to the terms and conditions of audit. Pilots should behave naturally while LOSA is being carried out; otherwise the results will not depict real picture. It would be better if pilots arrange some representatives among themselves as observers for monitoring compliance with safety standards as LOSA requirements.
LOSA management committee needs to be formed involving pilots’ association and other departments. The steering committee fulfils many responsibilities like building awareness about LOSA by publicizing it in newspaper, informing pilots, setting scope of audit, choose observers and their training schedules, and deciding about site for data collection and analysis.
The observers of LOSA should be well aware of the procedures and processes of airline under examination. The line pilots should also give due consideration to the observers’ tasks. It is better to have active and experienced pilots as observers for LOSA. LOSA observers from some other airline also provide valuable insight into safety considerations. They receive LOSA training of airline to be monitored and add value with their experience of other airline companies. The role of LOSA observers should be kept to mere guests so that they cannot interfere in flight operations and other airline internal tasks. They may provide their input if they think that safety envelope is about to be breached and immediate threat is beforehand. They cannot evaluate performance of flight crews. Instead, they collect data based on flight observations.
Although, line pilots cannot be directly part of LOSA process, yet they could play their part by staying as natural as they are in the presence of observers. They are important part of LOSA team.
Data analysts and report writers should be familiar with database management and data analysis tools. They also need to develop understanding about airline operations in detail. If expertise in data analysis is not available, airline might go for third party. If objectivity of the final report is under criticism, then third party report writers may also be chosen.
When to Conduct a LOSA
There could be many options to consider while deciding the time for conducting LOSA. For example, it could be decided based on availability of maximum number of observers, or duration involving vulnerability of safety aspects in operations. The worst time of LOSA implementation is soon after some major accident or incident since flight crews will be extremely conscious about safety in such time spans and the LOSA results will not be representative. LOSA provides careful analysis to expose areas of improvement. The results are reviewed, corresponding action plans are formulated and implemented, and the incorporated elements are monitored again. This process takes around 3 years. Therefore, the frequency of LOSA is chosen to be minimum 3 years for airlines.
How to Implement a LOSA
Data Collection
First of all, form a LOSA steering team and nominate its coordinator. If LOSA is being carried out for the first time, airline should consult other companies in which LOSA audit is recently conducted to assess various requirements. The company builds awareness among pilots and other personnel about upcoming LOSA with the help of company publications and official letters mentioning purpose of audit, while developing trust among crews to cooperate with LOSA observers.
LOSA committee decides about the focus of LOSA like covering entire operations, or recent changes only. It also thinks about number of observations for having a representative sample. As a rule of thumb, LOSA committee could match number of observations per fleet with the relative departures per day. Then, committee creates an observation form covering all aspects of airline operations and management.
Observers are selected from flight training departments, pilots, safety departments, and operations. Total number of observers depends upon their workload and extent of audit. Observers shouldn’t be over burdened. They require developing awareness about purpose and goals of LOSA. They get training in the light of rationale presented in observation form. They carry out sufficient practice before implementation.
LOSA coordinator chooses a safe site for data collection and analysis to ensure confidentiality of airline data.
Data Analysis and Feedback
First of all, the collected data need to be verified by personnel other than observers who are well verse with flight operations. They examine the management of errors and safety concerns by airline. The analysis should be distributed to stakeholders for verification before publishing the final results. Lastly, final report is prepared presenting comprehensive and concise analysis of flight operations and safety management. This report is provided to higher management of airline for getting idea about performance of various departments. The information and findings of final LOSA report are immediately disseminated to pilots for improving compliance with safety standards.
Use of LOSA Data
The LOSA data provides quantitative measurements about various areas of improvements. The airline needs to set targets to achieve excellence in strengthening safety envelope. The data obtained from LOSA could be compared with the results of FOQA and ASAP to assess safety status from different viewpoints.
Ten Operating Characteristics of LOSA
LOSA observations are based on normal and routine flights.
LOSA is supported from airline management and pilots.
Voluntary crew participation is a key trait of LOSA observations.
The data collected in LOSA is handled carefully, not to expose confidential information of airline to third parties.
The observation form is concise that clearly depicts strengths and weaknesses.
LOSA observers include pilots from various departments of airline who are trusted to make LOSA audit successful.
The data collection and analysis site is trustworthy to avoid leakage of sensitive data of airline.
The LOSA data is validated according to manuals and procedures of airline.
The end results indicate the targets for improvement in safety standards.
The results, along with management plans for safety enhancement, are immediately provided to line pilots so that they get idea about prevailing threats to safety in airline flight operations and management processes.
Appendix 1: Threat and Error Management
It is a conceptual framework for carrying out LOSA. It clearly exposes operational performance of airlines. This model can be generally applied to a lot of scenarios. TEM model focuses on working environment and humans involved in them. Since, this model observes performance in routine operations, the results present true picture of safety concerns of airlines.
TEM model provides various components like threats, errors, undesired aircraft situations, countermeasures against threats and errors.
TEM also holds many practical applications. It could be used as a valuable training tool for improving safety management processes. It can also be employed at reporting tool for major and minor incidents. You can also carryout systematic observation, proactive and reactive analysis with the help of TEM model. Overall, TEM is a valuable tool that acts as a framework for carrying out LOSA.
Appendix 2: Training and Standardizing LOSA Observers
This appendix is related to training and standardization of training of LOSA observers. The training includes getting familiar with LOSA aims and objectives, company procedures and policies, observation form, concepts related to TEM, and narratives. The training is followed by standardizing of observers and their findings with the aid of data cleaning methods. The completed observations are coded to provide desired standardization.
The other appendices include a sample LOSA observation form, sample letter for the airline pilots informing them about upcoming LOSA, and sample case studies for training observers.
