EASA published the summary of SAFE360

On June 8-10, 2021 EASA hosted the virtual SAFE360° conference that brought together over 2,000 industry experts to identify practical solutions to the most important safety issues faced by the industry today. The conference consisted of high-level and 360° panels as well as number of safety workshops and specialist break-out sessions.

You can download the full summary of the conference below, other material such as videos etc will also be posted in the coming days. You can also keep in touch with the latest on all the safety issues on the Air Ops Community Site.

The key highlights of the different parts of SAFE360° were:
Day 1 – High-Level Panels. 

  • The high-level panel on the “New Safety Landscape” discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic had led to new safety issues and changed the way the industry needed to approach pre-crisis systemic issues. The pandemic also introduced additional challenges to integrate health protection measures and a more integrated approach to wellbeing within a resilient management system approach. The Ramp-up Campaign and upcoming Safety Week complements SAFE360° so that the industry can be aware, anticipate and adjust as the situation develops.  
  • EASA and the organisations taking part in the Data4Safety (D4S) provided an update on the success of the proof of concept phase that has leveraged big data technologies to bring together flight data from the airlines involved covering 1.6 Million flights, 2.2 Million occurrence reports as well as weather and other data supporting over 130 Million flights. The project will move into the operational phase in 2022 and more information will be provided later in 2021.
  • The high-level panel on “Integrated Risk Management” discussed the need to combine safety and security management through a holistic, integrated approach, based on data and facts. 

Day 2 – 360° Panels.

  • Day 2 started with a 360° panel on “Training Effectiveness and Competence” that highlighted the importance of maintaining standards and supporting instructors in training personnel to the right level. In these challenging times, it was important to be flexible and for the everyone to help each other to identify and fill any knowledge gaps as more people returned to work.  
  • The 360° panel on “Approach Path Management” had the goal to reduce the risk of runway excursions. This can only be done collaboratively, starting at FL100 right through to landing by way of good energy management, open and early communication between flight crew and ATC as well as using data analytics to refine our mitigation strategies at an industry level.  
  • The final session on day 2 was the 360° panel on “Turnaround Safety” discussed the importance of protecting ground staff and ensuring safe operations at the gate by working together on collaborative solutions to reduce the risk of collisions and loading errors. 

Day 3 – Safety Workshops and Break-Out Sessions.

  • The workshop on “Entry of Aircraft Performance Data” outlined the safety analysis results on this topic and the panel discuss the goal of identifying new solutions to the human factors challenges through procedural improvements as well to facilitate the development of new safety nets.
  • On “Safe Use of Airspace”, the workshop brought together commercial operators, ATM/ANS and the general aviation community to discuss the solutions available to reduce the risk of airborne collisions in operations in 3 categories covering, iConspicuity, airspace design and the sharing of information on the active airspace picture. 
  • The final workshop on “Monitoring COVID-19 Safety Issues with Flight Data Monitoring (FDM)” discussed the impact of COVID on FDM programmes in airlines, FDM monitoring of the COVID safety issues (particularly important safety issues such as stablised approaches) and finally the future developments in FDM technologies.
  • There were also specialist break-out sessions on FDM and Occurrence Reporting. The latter particularly highlighted the importance of continued work Just Culture implementation that is a key part of the EASA Safety Promotion Plan for the coming months.  

Conference Conclusion

  • Erick Ferrandez, Head of EASA’s Safety Intelligence and Performance Department concluded the conference by highlighting not just the number of topics covered but HOW they were covered – through a 360° view that gathered all relevant stakeholders (Manufactures, Authorities, operators, Pilots, Maintenance Organisations, Ground handlers, ANSP, Airports, and so on…) This is the very spirit of SAFE360°. 
  • A wealth of information and knowledge had been gathered through the event and any questions not answered had been captured and will be used in EASA’s our daily work with the collaborative groups and to support future safety promotion material. 
  • SAFE360° is just another piece of the safety conversation and everyone is encouraged to join the Air Ops Community and the Conversation Aviation LinkedIn Group. We look forward to the next SAFE360° in 2022.