The concern related to the passenger briefing, in particular when life jackets should be inflated in the event of an emergency.
The reporter expressed a safety concern related to the passenger safety briefing on [foreign airline] flights.
The reporter advised that the safety briefing on these flights advises that in the event of an emergency landing on water, passengers should inflate their life jackets prior to exiting the aircraft. Such action has been shown, in previous accidents, to have resulted in the deaths of many passengers.
I must first express my sincere thanks to the reporter and REPCON for raising this safety concern to us at [foreign airline]. Advocates to the safekeeping of our passenger, crew and citizens are very much appreciated and we all take safety to heart unyieldingly at our airline. Our initial action will be to verify the safety issue, conduct a risk evaluation, develop remedial plan and immediately take actions required by the plan.
The safety concerned reported is indeed valid and instead of using the phrase ‘passenger should inflate their life jacket prior to exiting the aircraft’ it could be better said by adding the word ‘just before exiting the aircraft’ or like some other airline uses ‘when you are leaving the aircraft’. The risk assessment will be approved in the corporate compliance and safety committee, the improvement plan will be immediately developed and applied to the next safety demonstration video on our new aircraft types. Phase approach changes towards the entire fleets will be taken accordingly.
As safety demonstration in various airlines may differ in parts but the content of the safety procedure and the use of safety equipment is an international standard and the flying public is now better aware of proper use of this safety equipment since air travel has become a common mode of transportation. We also continuously instruct our crew to remind the passenger in case of an emergency evacuation in water to inflate their life vest just prior exiting the aircraft in safety briefing and every yearly safety recurrent training to further reduce the mentioned fatal risk of evacuating passenger in such event.
I would like to reassure you that we will take all possible actions to always improve the safety margin of our operation to enhance our safety performance for all stakeholder. Once again, thank you very much for bringing this to our attention.
Reference is made to your email dated Jan 31, 2017 regarding the reported concerns on the safety briefing on [operator] flights.
First of all, I must express my sincere thanks to the ATSB for passing this report on for our information and further action. The safety concern reported to us was indeed valid, and we took this as a priority that required immediate investigation. As [operator] was originally scheduled to receive an on-site audit under phase 4.1 of the AOC recertification process during Jan 10 - Feb 9, 2017, [Regulator] therefore promptly addressed our safety concern by emphasising on the safety briefing demonstration evaluation in particular, as an extra inspection agenda beyond other ongoing cabin safety audit plan. The inspection was performed thoroughly by our qualified Inspectors, along with assistance and support from an [international consulting firm] experts. We found that there was no non-conformance on the inflight safety briefing issues. [Operator] safety instruction cards and video demonstration on board every flight instruct passengers with correct information.
In addition, after conducting a risk assessment, [operator] approved in the corporate compliance and safety committee the improvement plan to take on the matter. The confirmation was given to [regulator] that this plan will be developed and applied to the next safety demonstration video on their new Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and the entire fleets respectively. As safety is always our regulatory responsibilities, a continuous monitoring on [operator] corrective action to ensure their safety compliance will be performed accordingly. A plan to conduct another audit under phase 4.2 (Inflight Inspection) of the AOC recertification process has been scheduled. This particular concern has been raised to our Inspectors for appropriate action during that inspection consequently.
Please be assured that [Regulator] will take all possible actions to monitor the safety standards of all [country] air operators. I strongly believe that, with our hard work and contribution from all parties particularly during the recertification process, a safe operation and regulatory compliance from our air operators will be enhanced and maintained always. Once again, thank you very much for bringing this to our attention.