News

ap&m expo europe

17th April 2012

AQMS are happy to announce that we are speaking about managing your business risk with integrated SMS at the Meet the Experts seminars at the AP&M exhibition at London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre on May 2^nd and 3^rd.  With the requirement for aviation safety management systems it is important that companies make SMS work for them and not just view it as a burden.  Come and see us on stand G72 for an informal discussion or just to say hello.

Celebrating its 10th year with the MRO industry, ap&m expo europe remains, first and foremost, a Networking Event, bringing together everyone working in the Commercial Aviation After-Market for a series of formal and informal networking activities, built around an informative and thought provoking 2 day conference and exhibition, with more than 250 of the world’s leading MRO suppliers exhibiting.

Whether your business is Aircraft Maintenance, Component Repair, Technical Procurement, Supply Chain Management, or any related support activity, ap&m expo europe is the one ‘must attend’ event in the trade show calendar. From the free Open Seminar Programme, to the Meet the Buyers B2B Networking, ap&m expo europe is the one-stop-shop for all your MRO networking needs.

Visit us on exhibit booth G72

To watch a video from the 2011 event and discover more visit www.apmexpo.com

SMS Act Now

26th January 2012

SMS

With the imminent requirements for operators to implement safety management systems by April this year I thought it would be useful to look at how this will affect our customers and others in the MRO and airworthiness support sectors.

EASA is still to publish a regulation for SMS specifically but does include it within the Safety Plan and has identified key performance indicators for operators and definitions for categories of occurrences. It is left to national civil aviation authorities to decide how they implement SMS and in the UK the CAA has set a deadline of April 8th for operators and has a clearly defined set of requirements that they need to use. MRO’s are required to have implemented SMS by 2014.

This may lead to MRO’s feeling that they have no particular hurry to implement SMS within their organisations – BUT – the CAA require operators to identify risks in their supply chain from this year, which means they will have to ask their MRO for evidence of a safety management system. This means that, for maintenance organisations to maintain and develop their business, they will need to demonstrate that they are actively managing safety and surveyors are now asking for evidence of SMS when they visit.

We believe that the best way of implementing SMS in an organisation is to integrate the safety requirements of aviation SMS, occupational health and safety and environmental safety as the process for managing these is identical. Integrated SMS avoids conflicts, gaps and omissions in safety management and, done well, ensures that the company’s business risk is reduced to a minimum.

We can offer training to implement an integrated system within our customer’s organisations and can facilitate the implementation with them and also offer auditing for IS-BAO accredited safety management systems.

For those organisations who are yet to implement SMS a useful introductory leaflet is available ‘ 10 things you need to know about SMS’, this can be found on the following link http://easa.europa.eu/sms/docs/Safety%20Management%20International%20Collaboration%20Group%20(SM%20ICG)%20phamphlet%20A4%20-v4.pdf

If you would like more information about SMS, training , implementation or auditing please email Carole at info@aqms.org.uk

Training Course Dates 2011-2012

24th October 2011

We are pleased to announce our partnership with Prospects Learning Foundation which means we are now able to provide training courses at the Aviation Training Academy based at London Southend Airport.  We have been supporting Prospects with the development of the aircraft maintenance apprenticeships and we believe that this development will provide a centre for excellence in all aspects of aviation maintenance training.  Please follow the links below for more information and course dates:

Human Factors Initial

Human Factors Continuation

Fuel Tank Safety Levels 1 and 2

Safety Management Systems

Safety Management Systems

1st July 2011

Safety management systems will become compulsory from next April, when the new Part M and 145 come into effect.  We are pleased to be able to offer IS-BAO accredited SMS for our customers.  Using an accredited system means that you are able to benefit from the cost savings and reduced business risk brought about by SMS and have confidence that you comply with the EASA requirement.  Your customers will be assured that your services meet their own compliance needs.

For more information click here

Fuel Tank Systems Level 2 safety training

1st September 2010

Places are available for Fuel Tank Systems Level 2 safety training on October 18th and November 22nd.  Human factors refresher training is available at the same time as the October training. Level Two Fuel Tank Systems Safety Training (SFAR88 level 2) is compulsory for all certifying staff by the end of 2010. This course meets the requirements of EC.2042 Part M and Part 145 and is delivered in our facilities in central Southend, close to the rail stations, and includes lunch and refreshments.

For further information please email Carole at info@aqms.org.uk or phone 01702 328246/7.