ED Decision 2025/007/R
SAFETY REPORTING CULTURE — UNDERSTANDING THE RISKS OF NOT REPORTING
In a non‑functioning or badly functioning safety environment, events go unreported due to fear of repercussions (possibly indicating poor or no just culture), lack of awareness, prioritisation of completing tasks over reporting safety issues, lack of training on occurrence reporting, etc.
In a well‑functioning safety environment, a just culture within the organisation facilitates the accurate reporting of events by GH personnel when they occur to ensure that the appropriate assessments are carried out.
(a) Key risk areas:
(1) damage done to the aircraft may go unnoticed by the flight crew or not be reported to them, especially for aircraft with carbon‑fibre structures;
(2) events are not properly understood as an accurate root cause analysis is much harder to perform.
(b) Potential consequences:
(1) unnoticed aircraft damage may endanger the flight;
(2) effective corrective actions cannot be put in place;
(3) damage‑related costs increase.
(c) Mitigation measures:
(1) include the SMS in the training programme for personnel, explaining the value of having a safety culture and a healthy, non‑punitive safety reporting system;
(2) apply a just culture and encourage open communication at all levels, top‑down and bottom‑up, about safety actions, events, occurrences and mitigation, to encourage proper reporting, thus enabling damage assessment and event analysis.
GM1 ORGH.GEN.165 explains risks of unreported safety events, including unnoticed aircraft damage and ineffective corrective actions, and recommends SMS training and just culture to improve reporting.
* Summary by Aviation.Bot - Always consult the original document for the most accurate information.
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