October 31, 2022

In 2019, ARSA submitted comments to EASA’s Notice of Proposed Amendment regarding Safety Management System requirements. The association collected feedback regarding industry progress towards implementing SMS. The FAA is expected to issue a proposed rule expanding SMS requirements to repair stations – the NPRM publication could happen any time – so the association is requesting new input regarding progress towards program implementation.

A February 2013 study from the Center for Aviation Safety Research (CASR) at Saint Louis University found the majority (52 percent) of repair stations had not yet started any SMS development activities. The report also found that larger repair stations were more familiar with SMS and further along in implementation than are smaller ones. The 2019 “quick question” run by ARSA collected input from 38 responding repair stations and reflecting this differentiation by size: Number of employees appeared to be reflective of institution of SMS.

Help ARSA update its data for 2022: 

Complete the survey by visiting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sms-2019.

The last round of responses…

See the data gathered by ARSA in 2019, from the 38 responding repair stations:

Click here to access a downloadable version of this InfoGraphic.

There was a small but consistent number of respondents within each company size category, which were based on ARSA’s regular membership structure. Considering the portion of individuals in each category reporting their company’s establishment of an SMS, those in larger organizations – particularly those with more than 200 employees – were more likely to have have taken steps towards program establishment.