Operational Risk Management
In the aviation industry, like any other domain, risks vary from high to low, but safety remains of crucial importance. “Research by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration into aviation accidents has found that 70% involve human error. Observations of flight have found that decision making contributes largely to such errors.” (British Medical Journal, 2000)
Operational risk management, ORM, is a means of decision-making that helps identify the risks, control them and therefore try to avoid them. In this way, the effectiveness of the performance will be better, and accidents and hazards lessened. ORM is effective because it can be performed before each flight. As a result, mishaps can be reduced. It can be also applied during and after any operation or task. It is based on several principles that will be discussed in detail.
The first principle governing ORM is accepting no unnecessary risk. Risk is the possibility of accidents like injury to people or loss of resources. In fact, even our daily activities involve risk. Therefore, all risks must be accepted for an operation to be complete. However, to accomplish an operation, some choices must be made to meet all the requirements with the minimum risk. Unnecessary risk is when the possibility of the achievement is not justified by the potential of the risk. To explain the idea of unnecessary risk, consider the following example. Many accidents occur using a single‐pilot only (SPO). SPO operations should be avoided. “Most tactical and surveillance operations are conducted with a pilot and tactical flight officer or two pilots. And they should be due to the limitations of the naked eye and the fact that the pilot is unable to simultaneously fly the aircraft and use viewing devices. Three of the airplane accidents in the NTSB database occurred with single‐pilot only, and two of the three resulted in fatal injuries. Pilots should not simultaneously be flying the aircraft and performing tactical duties because it compromises safety and is an unnecessary risk.” (http://www.docstoc.com)
There are some procedures that help avoid unnecessary risks. These include being aware of the risks and proper detection of the hazards. Also, decision making skills at all levels are very important to reduce such risks, and this is the second principle of ORM.
The third main principle of ORM is making risk decisions at the appropriate level. As a decision-making tool, ORM is only effective when the information is passed to the appropriate level of command. Those accountable for the success or failure of the mission must be included in the risk decision process, and they must elevate the decision to a higher level; that is, the level of who will answer in the event of an accident. These in turn determine what constitutes the acceptable level of risk.
Making the decision involves: selecting the best trained people, using the best maintained equipment, instructed in clear terms about the mission and its limits, to accomplish the mission with extreme emphasis on safety, have appropriate supervision in place at all levels. And yet, if there is a serious or critical hazard, and/or it is likely or probable that a mishap will occur, then responsible leadership dictates that the mission must be delayed until the hazard and/or mishap likelihood can be reduced. This may mean waiting for weather to improve, for better equipment to arrive, or for better-trained [or non-fatigued] people to arrive. (http://www.iawg.cap.gov)
The third principle is accepting risk when benefits outweigh the costs. The benefits should be compared against the costs. If the sum of the benefits exceeds or outweighs the sum of the costs, then risk can be acceptable. This balancing or benefits and costs is usually carried out by the decision-maker.
“You wouldn’t, for example, dispatch a Challenger to Baghdad purely to deliver a widget your company sold for fifty-seven cents. On the other hand, the CEO might be willing to fly over there if a $5 billion deal was on the line.” (Pat Daily, 2010)
In a world of uncertainty, important decisions might have uncertain outcomes. However, the choice must be made to the most preferred outcome. This is made by the decision-maker who identifies the problem, assesses the losses and expresses the preferences of the outcomes, and rationality is paramount here. For example, a day of good weather is much better to fly an airplane for the first time than a day with low instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions.
“Activities with large potential for loss of life or severe economic or social consequences, such as nuclear energy, chemical processes, and aviation, have since the 1960’s been subject to methodical and quantitative risk assessments.” (Stewart& Melchers, 1997).
In fact, ORM is applying common sense and looking before you leap. Thus, a manager or a decision-maker can be rational when assessing the costs and benefits. By doing this, risk and fatal dangers are reduced.
Lastly, an important pillar of ORM is integrating it into planning at all levels of the organization. The earlier risks are identified, the easier it becomes to control them. Throughout all the phases of any mission, ORM can be applied and integrated, be it planning or executing activities. This has a direct impact on safety as safety requires appropriate management in all the stages of the flight. By integrating ORM, performance will be improved from mission readiness to mission accomplishment. This integration is a whole process that includes anticipating the risks, proper planning and managing them in a disciplined approach. The goal is to know the hazard before a flight or mission. Many of the variables that play into the risk/gain equation can be overlooked or lost if the process is not undertaken at the beginning of a project or mission planning session.
In conclusion, the outline of ORM is not waiting until you feel that something doesn’t seem right; instead it is analyzing the risk and taking the best decision. It is not a complicated process, but once implemented it helps effectiveness and reduction of unwanted incidents.
“The United States Army was one of the early adopters of the concept of ORM and has embraced it vigorously. It is now an integral part of their operations on the ground, in the air, and off duty. Since adopting risk management in the late 1980s, the Army's overall air and ground accident rates have dropped dramatically.” (Pat Daily, 2010)
References
Daily, Pat. “CRM and ORM for Aviation”. Convergent Publications, 2010. Print.
Johnson, Keith. "Avoid Unnecessary Risks." Docstoc – Documents, Templates, Forms, Ebooks, Papers & Presentations. Web. 11 Jan. 2012. <http://www.docstoc.com/docs/80833944/Avoid-Unnecessary-Risks>.
Mark G. Stewart and Robert E. Melchers, Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Engineering Systems, Chapman & Hall, London, 1997.
"Principles of ORM." Iowa Wing Civil Air Patrol. Web. 11 Jan. 2012. <http://www.iawg.cap.gov>.
Helmreich L Robert. "On Error Management: Lessons From Aviation." British Medical Journal. v.320(7237)(2000)
http://www.bmj.com//node/337293?variant=extract
