Safety Management System (SMS)

The San Antonio Airport System’s Safety Division is responsible to provide and maintain an environment conducive to the safety and health of airport employees, users, and the public by applying a Safety Management System (SMS) intended to reduce hazards, incidents, and accidents to the lowest possible level.

SMS provides a management system for integrating safety activities into normal day-to-day business practices. It is a formal, top down, systematic approach to identify hazards and control risks.

SMS includes four components – Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, and Safety Promotion. SMS helps enhance safety by facilitating the development of an organization-wide safety policy and implementing methods to proactively identify and mitigate hazards.

• One of the key features of an effective SMS is to hold each person, regardless of his or her position, responsible for safety performance.
• In the San Antonio Airport System (SAAS), the Aviation Director is the highest ranking official, and therefore is the Accountable Executive.
• The Aviation Director ultimately assumes full responsibility for the SAAS SMS; however, he can delegate the day-to-day operational responsibilities of the SMS to the Assistant Aviation Director.