The FAA will announce a final rule today to require all Part 121 airlines to have safety management systems. A safety management system is defined by the FAA as “the formal, top-down, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and assuring the effectiveness of safety risk controls.” Most major carriers already have their own ways of achieving the same goals but the FAA rule will create standards for SMS systems. Many other countries have already implemented similar regulations and the SMS rule will make the U.S. comply with membership requirements for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the initiative was issued in November of 2010. A parallel NPRM covering certificated airports was also issued then. The new rule will be announced at a media event in Washington. It will be attended by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Nicholas Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, the industry trade group that represents the major airlines.
