30 August 2023 Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) rallied aviation companies and workers to uphold the highest safety standards as the sector works towards full recovery in the coming year. At the annual Aviation Safety Forum attended by over 300 company and union leaders and aviation professionals, CAAS said that the Singapore aviation sector had ramped up operations smoothly and safely in the last one year, and will do more to strengthen trust between management and workers and to enhance a positive safety culture. CAAS will be engaging management and workers in key aviation companies on initiatives that do so.
2 In 2022, Singapore underwent the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Audit and attained an Effective Implementation score of 99.7 per cent, the highest score achieved by any State to date1. Air passenger volume at Singapore’s Changi Airport is now at about 90% of pre-COVID levels and is expected to make a full recovery by the first half of 2024 or earlier.
Inaugural Safety Culture Survey
3 CAAS released findings from the inaugural Singapore Aviation Sector Safety Culture Survey at the Aviation Safety Forum 2023. The survey is the first aviation sector-wide longitudinal safety culture survey to monitor and strengthen aviation safety culture in Singapore, as air travel recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and grows in the coming years. The survey was conducted from March to April this year. It was completed by close to 4,000 personnel from some 400 aviation companies, including airlines, the aerodrome operator, ground handlers, maintenance organisations, design and production organisations, training organisations and freight forwarders.
4 The inaugural survey was based on a safety culture framework developed with the Netherlands Aerospace Centre and comprised 81 questions which were specially customised to suit the operating context in Singapore. The framework consists of five safety culture dimensions - commitment, trust, communication, awareness, improvement, and four socio-cultural factors - hierarchy, cohesion, control and achievement. These results provide aviation companies with insights on how safety is perceived, valued and prioritised by their workers, and identify areas for improvement and guide safety enhancement initiatives. CAAS will conduct the survey biennially to allow longitudinal analysis to identify emerging trends and developments. Please refer to the Annex A for details on the Singapore Aviation Safety Culture Framework and the Appendix for examples of survey statements pertaining to each of the dimensions/factors.
Survey Results
5 The survey results show that the Singapore aviation sector has a positive safety culture, with about 7 in 10 of those surveyed strongly agreeing or agreeing with statements that indicate as such:
(i) COMMITMENT: About 8 in 10 strongly agree or agree with statements that they are committed that safety is a key consideration in decision-making and is given due priority when faced with other competing pressures.
(ii) TRUST: About 6 in 10 strongly agree or agree with statements that they trust one another that safety is the motivation of their actions and operate on a mutual understanding of acceptable behaviours.
(iii) COMMUNICATION: About 7 in 10 strongly agree or agree with statements that they communicate actively in the reporting, alerting and sharing of safety information.
(iv) AWARENESS: About 8 in 10 strongly agree or agree with statements that they are keenly aware of the safety risks that they are exposed to and may be generating for others.
(v) IMPROVEMENT: About 7 in 10 strongly agree or agree with statements that they are driven to seek improvement in safety, recognising that safety is a continuous journey and not a destination.
Next Steps
6 Safety is a top priority for the Singapore aviation sector. The inaugural survey provides a baseline against which further improvements can be made. As a next step, CAAS will conduct focus group discussions with management and workers of key aviation companies to dive deeper and develop initiatives to strengthen the safety culture. CAAS will focus on two key areas:
(i) Strengthening trust between management and operational staff by:
a) facilitating a clearer understanding of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviours; and
b) reinforcing an environment where workers feel safe to proactively report unintentional mistakes without fear of reprisal.
(ii) Fostering a positive safety culture amongst all aviation workers, particularly in relation to:
a) aircraft maintenance which has a more complex work environment, where Singapore-licensed aircraft maintenance engineers are deployed; and
b) domains that have seen a significant number of entrants who just joined the aviation sector in the last one and a half years, who now comprise over 20% of the aviation workforce.
7 The Singapore Aviation Sector Safety Culture Survey is the latest in a series of safety initiatives that CAAS has launched to further strengthen aviation safety in Singapore. In 2022, CAAS published the National Aviation Safety Plan, which sets out Singapore’s strategic priorities and 50 action steps to ensure that flying remains safe as aviation recovers from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. CAAS also launched the first-ever Safety Charter, expressing the shared commitment by close to 100 aviation leaders to jointly uphold safety standards and strengthen safety culture in their respective organisations.
8 Mr Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS, said: “The strong participation in the survey indicates a high level of attention to and ownership of safety matters amongst Singapore aviation companies and workers. We have done well overall – there is a strong positive aviation safety culture in Singapore. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Safety is always work in progress. The inaugural safety culture survey provides a baseline to help us identify areas we can do better, to up the standards and keep ourselves on our toes.” (See Annex B for Mr Han's full opening address at the forum.)
Encl:
– Singapore Aviation Safety Culture Framework
– Opening Address by Mr Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS, at Aviation Safety Forum 2023
– Examples of Survey Statements Pertaining to Each Safety Culture Dimension or Socio-cultural Factor
1The current global average score is 68.9 per cent.