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UK Civil Aviation Regulations

These are published by the CAA on our UK Regulations pages. EU Regulations and EASA Access Guides published by EASA no longer apply in the UK. Our website and publications are being reviewed to update all references. Any references to EU law and EASA Access guides should be disregarded and where applicable the equivalent UK versions referred to instead.



A Safety Management System (SMS) is a systematic and proactive approach to managing safety risks. Risk management activities are at the heart of SMS, including the identification of safety issues, risk assessments and risk mitigation. It is supported by a strong assurance function that monitors compliance and performance as well as managing changes.

To be effective, the SMS needs the right policies, processes and procedures in place, in addition to the safety leadership to enable it to perform.

Training also plays a key role in implementing effective safety management systems. Training maintains personnel competencies, the sharing of safety information across the organisation, and with external organisations where there is a safety interface.

An effective safety management system is woven into the fabric of an organisation and its culture.

Evaluation tools

The SMS evaluation tool is used for initial SMS evaluations (Phase 1), to confirm the SMS is fully operating (Phase 2) and for ongoing evaluations (continued oversight).

The Management of change evaluation tool will be used by the CAA for the assessment of management of change documentation such as safety risk assessments and safety cases submitted to the CAA. Organisations may choose to use this to verify that they have captured all the necessary considerations before submitting any documentation to the CAA.

The previous Phase 1 SMS evaluation framework tools are still available to be used by organisations as a gap analysis tool.

Guidance and templates

Is my organisation complex or non-complex?

This is an extract from AMC1 OR.GEN.200(b) Management System.

Size, nature and complexity of the activity

  1. An organisation should be assessed as complex when:

    a. it has a workforce of more than 20 full time equivalents.

  2. Notwithstanding the size of the organisation, the following complexity criteria should be also assessed:

    a. extent and scope of contracted activities.

  3. Notwithstanding the size of the organisation, the following risk criteria should also be assessed:

    a. use of the following special approvals: RNP-X, LVO, ETOPS, HHO, HEMS, NVIS, DG, SFL;
    b. different types of aircraft operated or used;
    c. environment (offshore, mountainous area etc…).

  4. Notwithstanding the criteria above, the following organisations should be considered as non complex:

    a. approved training organisations only providing training for basic LPL, LPL, PPL, SPL and BPL;
    b. commercial operators of other than complex motor powered aircraft performing only local operations;
    c. aeromedical centres.
Close Is my organisation complex or non-complex?

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