Starting December 2, EASA Part 145 maintenance organizations will be required to meet revised regulations that require the implementation of a safety management system (SMS). Included in the new rules is a two-year transition period to Dec. 2, 2024, allowing time for maintenance organizations to correct any findings of noncompliance.
The SMS rules require maintenance organizations to implement hazard identification, risk management, and safety assurance processes, as well as the designation of a safety manager. To support the SMS processes, several other requirements have been changed, including the safety policy, internal occurrence reporting, competence of staff, and compliance monitoring, replacing quality assurance.
To verify that the maintenance organizations have a proper SMS, the regulation introduces requirements for each European state’s aviation authority. These new requirements “should enable the [authority] to verify and continuously monitor the effectiveness of the organization’s SMS and associated safety performance management,” EASA said.
The new sections of the regulation are intended to give individual aviation authorities the flexibility to customize the approval to any particular organization’s size, type of services offered, and if services extend beyond EU-certified aircraft.