Singapore has launched the first ever safety charter for the aviation sector with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) taking the lead at the annual Aviation Safety Forum held on 7 March.
Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS, said aviation safety is ‘non-negotiable’ and will be the top priority of the aviation sector as it tries to ‘rebuild and reclaim’ the city-state’s position as a global air hub this year.
CAAS said the safety charter is the ‘first ever’ safety for the Singapore aviation sector. So far, 80 organisations have signed the charter, including Changi Airport, SIA, Airbus and Boeing, ground handlers dnata and SATS, and leading MRO service provider ST Engineering.
At the Aviation Safety Forum, the CAAS presented key findings with its first industry-wide survey to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation safety culture and identify areas for improvement.
The survey covered questions across seven components: 1) individual’s commitment to safety; 2) organisation’s commitment to safety; 3) communication of safety information; 4) reporting of safety hazards and unsafe practices, and safety mistakes; 5) learning from safety reports; 6) voluntary reporting systems; and 7) adequacy of workplace resources.
The survey found that the safety culture amongst companies and workers remains strong, with over 90 percent of respondents who ‘agreed or strongly agreed’ to each of the aforementioned items.
Some specific areas of improvement include ‘the need to identify areas or circumstances where workers might find it difficult to perform their work both safely and well’ and ‘to reinforce an environment where staff feel safe to report mistakes made’.
The CAAS is following up with the companies on these areas of improvement as part of its overall effort to strengthen safety culture and improve safety procedures in Singapore.
The last incident recorded by Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) involved a B737-300 freighter operated by Tri MG Intra Asia on 28 November 2020. The aircraft was departing for Indonesia but entered the runway without air traffic control (ATC) clearance. This was one of three incidents reported for that year.
