CANSO Safety Programme brings voice of airspace to APAC Safety Management Seminar

Representatives of the CANSO Safety Programme from ANSPs across the region came together to share the voice of airspace at a remarkable safety management seminar organised by ICAO Asia Pacific and the Flight Safety Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand.

The ICAO Asia Pacific Safety Management Seminar was attended by more than 20 organisations, 120 on-site participants, and more than 400 virtual participants. The seminar focused on safety information management and safety culture. 

John Wennes, CANSO Safety Programme Manager supported the event by being a speaker or panellist in three different sessions. The first related to Safety Data and Information Management, and covered challenges in managing safety data to include ensuring it’s accuracy, its use as an enabler for safety (essential in risk mitigation), collaboration and trust in data sharing and emerging trends and risks such as cybersecurity and AI.

The next panel was a safety culture workshop to help develop a safety culture within an organisation in which trust is the foundation. In addition, the session discussed how a safety culture within an organisation must include clear guidelines and open communications to sustain a strong safety culture.

The last session discussed tools for advancing safety culture including those to measure and evaluate site assessments and surveys. Safety improvement strategies and industry resources and guidelines were also discussed which encourages voicing concerns and ensuring resources drive a lasting culture change.

Other CANSO members participating included:

• Job Bruggen, from LVNL shared his wisdom and experience in interpreting human behaviour in scope of Just Culture implementation.
• Samantha Basnayake, Airservices Australia, shared her experience and lessons learned on safety reporting systems.
• Phil O’Connell, Airways New Zealand, shared best practice in safety performance indicator process.

John said: “Overall, it was a team effort on behalf of CANSO and those that participated which provided insight and valued Air Traffic Management perspectives in discussions with industry counterparts.

“ICAO meetings are commonly attended by regulators which may not fully recognise the safety culture within the field.

“Many thanks to the AEROTHAI team for their support and efforts to ensure ATM participation and engagement during this industry wide effort to make improvements of State Safety Programmes and Safety Management Systems.”