Significant attention has been given in the literature to
aviation safety, with emphasis on the importance of developing and
maintaining resilience to accidents. To date, this attention
has remained at the conceptual level, with comparatively little
empirical research undertaken to test the validity of concepts put
forward in the literature. This report presents the findings of a
qualitative study, investigating the factors perceived to
facilitate safety culture and institutional resilience within
airlines. Thirty-two senior managers, drawn from Safety
Departments and Flight Operations Divisions, participated in the
research, representing 12 airlines operating in the Asian and
Pacific regions. Data was obtained through semi-structured
interviews with participants, based on questions relating to terms
contained in James Reason's Checklist for Assessing Institutional
Resilience.
The checklist provided a useful framework for obtaining data;
however, some terms reflected exclusivity in identifying factors
that impact on organisational resilience, and others significantly
overlapped in their application to the airline industry.
Themes emerging from the findings include the importance of
leadership roles undertaken by the board, senior management, chief
pilots and safety departments, and the influence of both formal and
informal performance management systems. Analysis of the
findings addresses the implications for Reason's checklist, and
identifies those factors that are not on the checklist but perhaps
ought to be. The emergence of a model which may be
empirically tested through quantitative design is considered, along
with other recommendations for future research. In
conclusion, strategies are presented, drawn from the data, which
support the presence or absence of safety cultures within the
airline industry and impact on ability to assess institutional
resilience.