The CAA is responsible for oversight of UK civil aviation activities. This includes the certification, surveillance and investigation of UK based organisations and licensed individuals.
The competency of CAA staff involved in oversight activities is established and maintained through initial and continuation training and supported by regular competence assessments.
The CAA has set up SMS evaluation tools for the assessment of SMS.
The oversight of SMS is carried out using a phased approach. For an initial assessment of an SMS for a new organisation a phase 1 SMS assessment is conducted to ensure that all the required elements of an SMS are present and suitable for the organisation. Once the organisation has been issued with its approval certificate a phase 2 SMS assessment is carried out within a year of operation to ensure that the SMS is operating and effective. SMS assessments will then be carried out at least every two years as part of the continued oversight of the organisation.
The SMS evaluation includes an assessment of the way organisations develop safety objectives and safety performance indicators. It also assesses the overall safety performance of the organisation and its management of risk to ensure it is effective.
The CAA uses a performance based oversight process to deliver oversight in a proportionate manner. This process brings together CAA staff from across the CAA in order to gather collective intelligence supported by relevant safety data analysis. Through internal review meetings the CAA is able to capture and agree its view of safety risks in these organisations (called entities). This enables decisions to be made to vary planned oversight according to compliance, performance and risk.
The output of the Performance Based Oversight process, and supporting evidence, is then discussed with the Accountable Manager of the entity to agree the organisation’s safety outcomes and action plan.
This is supported by an entity performance tool that records the gathered intelligence, risk information and actions taken.
The CAA has a management system that details its policies, processes and procedures for its oversight activities. It uses commercially available quality management software as a means for planning and tracking of audits and findings.
Oversight of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories aviation industries is covered in their state safety programmes, further information can be found in the SSP stakeholders section.
The MAA oversees the defence aviation community through its Oversight and Approvals Division. Oversight is a combination of formal audit, informal stakeholder engagement and desk level surveillance; supported by the MAA’s Analysis Division’s assessment of Air Safety information.
MAA staff competence is assured by defining the required skills in terms of reference for each post and ensuring the necessary training is provided to achieve these skills.
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