Safety is crucial when upgrading air navigation systems. ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices require that any significant safety-related change to the air traffic management (ATM) system shall be effected after a safety assessment has demonstrated that an acceptable level of safety will be met and users have been consulted, and post-implementation monitoring needs to be conducted to verify the defined level of safety continued to be met.
To enhance the importance of safety assessment in ATM and strengthen the awareness of responsibility for safety among Member States, the first webinar on ATM Safety Assessment in Change Management was conducted by APAC Regional Sub-Office from 3-5 November 2020. The webinar was attended by more than 170 people on average with different background and experience across the region. The webinar was highlighted by the main exercise session on a case study using the interactive electronic whiteboard, which enabled participants to join and interact actively sharing ideas from anywhere, at the same time (please see the pictures of the exercise outcome and the actual video-recording below).
Especially in this unprecedented time of pandemic crisis, it is more important than ever that States share knowledge and experience to continue efforts and keep up with. During the 3-day webinar, participants had exchanged their challenges and lessons learned with a practical hands-on exercise.
We found out that identifying hazards was the most challenging task to do among States and ANSPs, also they expressed that creating a positive safety culture and just culture should be better promoted to ensure more proactive and predictive safety management to deal with the ever-changing ATM environment. APAC Regional Office and Regional Sub-Office will go further to better support our Member States by providing more proactive approaches based on the needs and challenges we identified in the webinar.