Story ID: 
Deadline Looms for Australia's SMS Rules
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Charter and other commercial air transport operators in Australia will need to have safety management systems in place by December 2024.
Word Count: 215
Commercial air transport operators flying under Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Part 119, which includes nonscheduled air charter, are required to submit their plans for implementing safety management systems (SMS) by December 2. Under new regulations, Part 119 operators have until June 3, 2024, to submit full SMS documentation. Operations are required to start using their approved SMS program on Dec. 1, 2024. CASA will be scheduling webinars to answer questions about how to prepare an SMS implementation plan.

The agency acknowledged there is no one-size SMS that caters to all organizations. Therefore, CASA said the resources applied to an SMS can be “scaled to suit the size, nature, and complexity of the operation to ensure the hazards and associated risks are effectively managed. Where an organization either solely or as part of a group has several approvals, an overarching SMS between the group and the subsidiary companies may be developed, provided there is clear accountability detailed in the corporate structure for the ownership of the SMS.”

While most Part 119 operations will have some elements of an SMS in place already and some operators may even have an established system, albeit without a regulatory basis, “there is a need to plan and monitor the transition during the establishment of a regulatory compliant system,” said CASA.