Many factors contribute to an airline's safety record, some
external to the organisation and others internal.� An important
internal contribution comes from the manner in which the company's
flight operations are managed.� This study addresses the
organisational factors impinging on an airline's safety outcome
that are subject to influence by managers in their flight
operations divisions.� Particular attention is given to evidence of
the concept known as 'institutional resilience'.
Twelve major airlines in Australasia and South East Asia
participated in the study.� The study used a mixed method approach,
incorporating both qualitative data (interviews) and quantitative
data (audit).� The qualitative approach used in-depth interviews,
conducted with 36 senior managers in the twelve airlines.� The
quantitative approach comprised a self-reported audit of
organisational management arrangements within each airline.� The
audit was conducted by means of a questionnaire sent to one senior
manager in each airline.� Eleven questionnaires were returned.
This report deals with the analysis of results from the
audit.�
The scope of the audit was determined by both the framework
adopted for the study and by information gained during the
preceding 36 interviews.� The framework of analysis has six-parts:
human factors, culture, safety management systems, benchmarking,
and theory of high reliability and institutional resilience.
The results show both significant similarities and important
differences between the airlines.� Attention is given to
differences between domestic and overseas airlines.� The similar
outcomes are useful as a normative guideline on the way airlines
should address their management of safety.� The differences provide
a guide to further development by both airlines and researchers.�
The findings are discussed in detail at Section 5 of this
Report.
The study identifies three areas suitable for further research.�
The first relates to further development of reactive and proactive
measures that can indicate the state of an airlines' 'safety
health'.� When used in an appropriate combination, such measures
should indicate changes in intrinsic safety levels and facilitate
the prioritisation of remedial action.� The next area builds on the
first by investigating the development of a checklist, similar to
the Checklist for Assessing Institutional Resilience (CAIR).� A
suitable checklist must appeal to the airlines in terms of its
practical application.� The third area is development of a process
to improve the reporting rate of flight crew error.