A validated tool that gives Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) a clear picture of their safety culture – and how it compares with peers across the CANSO network.
Safety culture describes the collective values, beliefs, and behaviours that define how safety is prioritised within an organisation – not just on paper, but in everyday decisions, conversations, and actions at every level.
A strong safety culture does not happen by accident. It is built through intentional leadership, shared accountability, psychological safety, and a willingness to learn from experience. In aviation, where the consequences of failure are severe, safety culture is one of the most powerful predictors of organisational resilience.
"Safety culture is the way safety is perceived, valued and prioritised in an organisation. It reflects the real commitment to safety at every level." – ICAO
Measuring safety culture gives ANSPs an evidence-based foundation from which to learn, act, and improve. The CANSO Safety Culture Benchmarking Programme (SCBP) provides a structured, validated methodology – developed and refined by leading ANSPs – to understand where your organisation stands and how you compare.
Refined from EUROCONTROL's original 64-question instrument, the survey distils safety culture into 16 focused questions – validated with leading ANSPs and aligned with the ICAO Safety Management framework.
Selected for their strong predictive power, the 16 questions can be distributed to all staff levels and take around 10 minutes to complete – making deployment straightforward and participation high.
Questions map to four dimensions of organisational safety culture – each revealing a distinct aspect of how safety is lived within your organisation, from grassroots ownership to open dialogue.
Results are anonymised and compiled into a shared CANSO benchmarking dashboard – developed in partnership with the CANSO Safety Intelligence Workgroup – so you can see your results in context, not in isolation.
Each quadrant reflects a distinct dimension of how safety culture is expressed and experienced across your organisation. Hover to explore the connections.
The degree to which safety is collectively owned and enacted by employees at all levels, not delegated solely to safety departments or management. A culture of distributed leadership, shared accountability, and grassroots empowerment.
Represents the collective mindset of vigilance and constructive scepticism – an organisation's ability to maintain alertness without drifting into fear or complacency. It shows the level of care and concern that employees carry into their daily work.
Reflects the extent to which individuals feel psychologically safe to challenge assumptions, seek clarification, and express curiosity about safety practices. A culture that values learning and open dialogue over compliance and silence.
The organisation's capacity to discuss incidents, errors, and risks transparently and respectfully – consistent with Just Culture principles. A culture where speaking up is welcomed, and honesty is met with support rather than blame.
The SCBP has evolved through close collaboration with leading ANSPs – tested, refined, and validated at every step of the way.
EUROCONTROL's 64-question safety culture survey is refined through inputs from Austro Control, skyguide, NATS and NAV CANADA.
16 questions are chosen, mapping to four safety culture quadrants with strong predictive power of safety culture outcomes.
NAV CANADA, Austro Control and skyguide partner with the CANSO Safety Intelligence Workgroup to create a shared benchmarking dashboard.
After winning CANSO's Global Safety Award, Firstfruits Services, NAV CANADA and Austro Control partner to expand capacity and ensure resilient resourcing and expertise.
Facilitated workshops covering survey validation, interpretation of insights, and identification of next steps – delivered by Firstfruits Services and Austro Control.
Multiple ANSPs now publicly benchmarked; others are actively completing the survey and joining the community.
Partner with us as we scale and build a global community dedicated to safety culture maturity in aviation.
Where does your organisation sit?
NAV CANADA was among the first ANSPs to participate in the programme. Here is what happened when they engaged with the data.
Common themes emerged across teams and departments that no single team had identified on its own. The gaps were not isolated issues but shared, systemic patterns recognised throughout the organisation.
The data opened conversations that would not otherwise have happened. Cross-team workshops, peer dialogue, and deeper qualitative exploration of the underlying drivers became possible once teams had a shared, evidenced starting point.
Stronger dialogue around psychological safety. A shift from compliance-led safety towards shared ownership. A practical foundation for continuous improvement that the organisation continues to build on today.
For ANSPs seeking an independent review, or who want capacity for survey management, rollout, analysis, reporting, and follow-up, we offer tailored support.
The core benchmarking survey is available to all CANSO member ANSPs at no cost. The services below are optional enhancements for organisations that wish to deepen their analysis or access facilitated support. There is no obligation and no requirement to use any of them.
An objective, external assessment of your safety culture, conducted by experienced practitioners outside your organisation and free from internal bias.
Full-service deployment including survey hosting, participant communications, and end-to-end rollout coordination – reducing resource requirements on your team.
Additional analysis with detailed, practical recommendations to inform your safety culture strategy, leadership conversations, and action planning.
A comprehensive, in-depth analysis of your survey results – including narrative interpretation, quadrant deep-dives, and tailored recommendations to guide your safety culture strategy and leadership conversations.
Expert-led sessions designed to help your team interpret results, validate findings in context, and co-create actionable next steps. Delivered by Firstfruits Services and Austro Control.
An interactive, visual dashboard that brings your safety culture data to life – enabling dynamic exploration of results across departments, roles, and time, with rich benchmarking context.
The clarity and depth of the report provide a solid foundation for us to move forward, and we believe these recommendations will greatly support our efforts to create effective actions.Anonymous ANSP
The contribution was instrumental in strengthening the impact of our safety culture programme.Anonymous ANSP
Ready to benchmark your safety culture alongside other ANSPs globally? Join CANSO ANSPs already using the programme to understand and strengthen their safety culture. Participation takes around 2–3 minutes per employee. Get in touch now!