Airport Safety Management System rule (2023)
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The Airport Safety Management System is a significant rule issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), effective April 24, 2023, that establishes an airport safety management system.[1]
Timeline
The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:
- April 24, 2023: The final rule became effective.[1]
- February 23, 2023: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published the final rule.[1]
- September 12, 2016: The comment period ended.[1]
- July 14, 2016: The FAA published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking and opened the comment period.[1]
- October 7, 2010: The FAA published the proposed rule and opened the comment period.[1]
Background
The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues airport operating certificates (AOC) to ensure the safe operation of air transportation. The FAA authority to regulate aviation transportation is found in Title 49 of the United States Code.
In 2007, 14 aircraft experienced damage to their windshields and this airport safety management system (SMS) is in response to that event. The FAA has found that 139 certified airports need to address safety concerns.
Summary of the rule
The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
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This final rule requires certain airport certificate holders to develop, implement, maintain, and adhere to an airport safety management system (SMS). Certificated airports that qualify under one or more of the following triggering criteria (triggers) are required to develop a SMS under this final rule: are classified as large, medium, or small hubs based on passenger data extracted from the FAA Air Carrier Activity Information System; have a 3-year rolling average of 100,000 or more total annual operations, meaning the sum of all arrivals and departures; or serve any international operation other than general aviation. This rule would expand the safety benefits of SMS to certain certificated airports and further the FAA's aviation-wide approach to SMS implementation in order to address safety at an organizational level.[2] |
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Summary of provisions
The following is a summary of the provisions from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
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SMS has generated wide support in the aviation community as an effective approach that can deliver real safety and financial benefits.[1] SMS integrates modern safety concepts into repeatable, proactive processes in a single system, emphasizing safety management as a fundamental business process to be considered in the same manner as other aspects of business management. The development and implementation of SMS improves safety at the organizational level and is the next step in the continuing evolution of aviation safety. Therefore, the FAA is pursuing an aviation-wide approach that would require the implementation of SMS by those organizations in the best position to prevent future accidents. As part of that process, the FAA is expanding SMS's benefits to certain certificated airports by requiring them to proactively identify and mitigate safety hazards, thereby reducing the possibility or recurrence of incidents or accidents in air transportation. The purpose of this final rule is to require certain Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 139 [2] certificate holders to develop, implement, maintain, and adhere to an airport safety management system (SMS). A SMS is a formal means for organizations to identify and manage safety risks in their operations. It includes systematic procedures, practices, and policies for the management of safety risk. SMS enforces the concept that safety should be managed with as much emphasis, commitment, and focus as any other critical area of an organization. It prompts organizations to develop decision-making processes and procedures and use effective safety risk controls to proactively identify and mitigate or address any detected noncompliant or unsafe conditions in their operations. As discussed in the FAA Airport SMS Pilot Study report,[3] airports that voluntarily implemented SMS have reported better efficiency in identifying and mitigating hazards in daily activities such as pedestrian safety on ramps and operations with ground support equipment.[4] These airports also used SMS processes for significant events, such as construction safety and phasing planning, to proactively identify and mitigate hazards before the start of the project. This proactive approach, along with the communication of safety issues, provides a robust mechanism for airports to improve safety. The FAA has not formally tracked the number of airports that have implemented SMS since it is not yet a required element under part 139. The purpose of a SMS is to reduce incidents, accidents, and fatalities in the airfield operations environment. A specific example cited in the RIA was the FOD damage to 14 aircraft in 2007 (NTSB Accident No: DEN07IA069). The advanced communication procedures in a SMS could have expedited the reporting, assessment and mitigation of the FOD hazard, thus limiting the likelihood and severity of this hazard. Expanding SMS to certain certificated airports is the best strategy to continue to reduce incidents and accidents, and improve safety in aviation. ICAO, other Civil Aviation Authorities, industry advisory groups, and the NTSB all support the use of SMS to improve safety. In the U.S., safety management systems have been implemented by part 121 operators and the FAA has voluntary programs designed to expand the use of SMS throughout the aviation system. The FAA has even implemented SMS within many of its organizations. Further, expansion of SMS would also align the U.S. with current ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices. This final rule requires airport certificate holders that qualify under one or more of the following triggering criteria (triggers) to develop a SMS: airports: (a) classified as large, medium, or small hubs, based on passenger data extracted from the FAA Air Carrier Activity Information System; (b) that have a 3-year rolling average of 100,000 or more total annual operations, meaning the sum of all arrivals and departures; [5] or (c) that serve any international operation other than general aviation. The FAA applied a primarily risk-based approach to the final rule's applicability. The criteria are designed to maximize SMS's safety benefits to stakeholders in the least burdensome manner. Instead of requiring SMS at all certificated airports, only certificated airports with the highest passenger enplanements, the largest total operations, and those hosting international air traffic must have a SMS under this rule. This final rule applies to approximately 265 certificated airports. These airports cover over 90 percent of all U.S. passenger enplanements and include the facilities with the largest number of commercial air transportation operations. This allows safety benefits to flow to airports with the majority of aircraft operations in the United States in addition to airports with international passenger operations to ensure conformity with international standards and recommended practices with the least regulatory burden. This rule does not require SMS implementation at small airports with fewer resources where creating a SMS may be a larger proportional burden and may not be cost beneficial. This final rule includes an exception to the applicability of the SMS requirement. If a certificate holder qualifies exclusively under the international services trigger, then it may file a waiver request to seek relief from the regulatory requirement to implement SMS. To do so, it must certify that it does not host any operation by any tenant [6] that is required to implement SMS under the applicable laws or regulations of its country of origin (i.e., the jurisdiction that issued the tenant's air carrier certificate, air operator certificate, or equivalent) or any other governing jurisdiction. For example, if international services at an airport are solely provided for operators engaged in general aviation operations, then—absent another trigger—the FAA will not require the airport to implement SMS. By linking the international trigger for part 139 airports to the presence of international tenants with SMS requirements, the FAA supports a holistic approach that encourages the sharing of data and proactive risk management inherent to SMS. Without this linkage, neither SMS reaches its full potential safety benefit. However, if an air carrier tenant commences international service to or from such airport, and the country of origin of such air carrier tenant requires that it adhere to a SMS, then the exception does not apply and the airport must implement SMS. In the interest of safety, this final rule requires the implementation of SMS in both the movement and non-movement areas [7] of qualifying airports. This rule allows airports to enter into data sharing and reporting arrangements with certain air carrier tenants. Such arrangements allow tenants to share with part 139 certificate holders any hazard report submitted though the tenants' confidential employee reporting systems. This reduces the burden of having to report hazards under two different reporting systems and fosters cooperation and increased communication of safety issues among interested parties, while avoiding gaps in SMS coverage. Separately, this final rule adds an authority citation inadvertently omitted from a previous final rule and amends § 139.101 by removing paragraph (c), which no longer applies. Airport SMS will help FAA develop its oversight processes so that FAA targets its involvement on the areas of highest safety risk. For airports with a fully implemented SMS and that have a consistent history of compliance with the requirements of part 139, the FAA will transition to system-based inspections, thereby allowing inspectors to focus on areas of greater risk and the FAA to modify the duration of time between inspections for those airports. In addition to focusing FAA's resources to best address safety needs, the FAA anticipates this approach will create government cost savings from reduced inspector time and travel costs.[2] |
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Significant impact
- See also: Significant regulatory action
Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine which agency rules qualify as significant rules and thus are subject to OMB review.
Significant rules have had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. Executive Order 12866 further defined an economically significant rule as a significant rule with an associated economic impact of $100 million or more. Executive Order 14094, issued by President Joe Biden (D) on April 6, 2023, made changes to Executive Order 12866, including referring to economically significant rules as section 3(f)(1) significant rules and raising the monetary threshold for economic significance to $200 million or more.[1]
The text of the Airport Safety Management System rule states that OMB deemed this rule significant, but not economically significant:
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In conducting these analyses, the FAA has determined that this final rule: (1) has benefits that justify its costs; (2) is not an economically “significant regulatory action” as defined in section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866; (3) is “significant” as defined in DOT's Regulatory Policies and Procedures; (4) will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; (5) will not create unnecessary obstacles to the foreign commerce of the United States; and (6) will not impose an unfunded mandate on state, local, or tribal governments, or on the private sector by exceeding the threshold identified above. [2] |
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Text of the rule
The full text of the rule is available below:[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
