ICAO — Short Course
Fundumental of Safety Management System (SMS)
The first step toward a stronger safety culture. Designed to develop aviation professionals in implementing and maintaining a proactive Safety Management System in line with ICAO and CAAM requirements.
Duration of Course:
3 Days
Course Overview
The AvAC Fundamentals of SMS Course is an intensive 3-day program designed to demystify the core components of safety management frameworks.
Participants will gain a deep understanding of international ICAO standards and local CAAM directives, from establishing enforceable safety policies and hazard identification to managing systemic change and tracking safety metrics, to build and champion a positive safety culture.
Participants will learn to analyze system failures using established safety models, conduct hazard identification and risk assessments, draft and align safety policies and emergency response plans, and track safety performance indicators.
Course Curriculum
Our SMS Course bridges safety psychology with the practical execution of the four globally mandated pillars of SMS.
- Foundations & Safety Culture (Modules 01–04):
- Explores the evolution of aviation safety
- The human element within complex systems
- Systemic failure modeling (the “Swiss Cheese” Model)
- The creation of a non-punitive, data-driven “Just Culture.”
- Pillar 1: Safety Policy & Objectives (Modules 05–09):
- Establishes the formal architecture of an SMS
- Mapping out executive commitment
- Organizational accountability boundaries
- Key safety roles
- Documentation control
- Emergency Response Plan (ERP) alignment
- Pillar 2: Safety Risk Management (Modules 10–12):
- Focuses on proactively identifying workplace hazards
- Calculating risk levels using standardized probability/severity matrices
- Applying robust mitigation strategies
- Pillar 3: Safety Assurance (Modules 13–14):
- Teaches how to continuously monitor system health using Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs)
- Conduct internal audits
- Manage change through formal protocols
- Pillar 4: Safety Promotion & Validation (Modules 15–17):
- Focuses on building long-term competence through targeted safety training
- Open corporate safety communication, validated through a final competency evaluation
Rigorous Evaluation Standards
Final Exam: A final objective examination designed to test regulatory compliance knowledge, hazard classification logic, and risk matrix calculations.
Successful participants are awarded an official Certificate in Fundamentals of Safety Management Systems, certifying compliance with international ICAO and local CAAM training recommendations.
Pre-requisite
- Familiarity with the aviation operational environment in the context of safety, applicable to Accountable Managers, Safety/Quality Assurance personnel, frontline aviation users (pilots, ATCOs, AMEs, dispatchers), ground and airport operations personnel, or Civil Aviation Authority regulators; or
- as determined by Civil Aviation Authority or other states Regulator/ Air Navigation Service Provider.
Course Schedule
9 February 2027 – 11 February 2027
5 July 2027 – 7 July 2027
18 October 2027 – 20 October 2027
For more information regarding AvAC Fundamentals of Safety Management System (SMS) Course, or any of our ICAO Standard ATC courses, please contact us