Washington, DC, February 4, 2010 – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today released Twelve Steps to an Effective Safety Management System: A Review of the Fundamentals, which outlines the basic steps necessary to prepare a comprehensive and effective Safety Management System (SMS). With a formalized SMS, any commercial or non-commercial aircraft operator can proactively identify and mitigate potential safety risks.

This is just one in a series of resources NBAA makes available to help operators comply with the new International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) SMS requirements for large and turbo-jet operations. However, “NBAA advocates that aircraft operators of all sizes implement an SMS – even those only flying domestically,” said Doug Carr, NBAA Vice President, Safety, Security and Regulation. “That is why we are making these guidelines available to all members of the aviation community, not just NBAA Members.”

The International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) incorporates a full SMS system scalable to operations of all sizes that conform to private or commercial regulatory structures. IS-BAO is the only business aviation industry standard recognized internationally for meeting SMS requirements.

Twelve Steps to an Effective Safety Management System: A Review of the Fundamentals is based on ICAO SMS requirements and industry best practices, and shows how an organization can fly more efficiently and safely.

“Implementation of an SMS will help aircraft operators meet global operating standards,” Carr said.

NBAA’s Twelve Steps to an Effective Safety Management System: A Review of the Fundamentals can be downloaded for free http://www.ascendwithnbaa.org/whitepaper2-genopr1.