Applying safety action is one face of the process. Convincing the users the company use to be another face, often with mitigate results.
The following is a list of 5 consecutive steps that may be used to gradually convince the public opinion about the safety level that is in force in the company.
| level |
step |
description |
| 1 |
say you are safe |
on ads, on company website pages |
| 2 |
briefly describe the safety processes |
on specific media, on specific company website pages |
| 3 |
describe the safety organisation |
on specific media, on specific company website pages |
| 4 |
show how you solved some issues |
on company specific safety website |
| 5 |
show the events you are facing and
how you deal with them |
on company specific safety website |
These 5 steps represent a gradual increase about what to say and what to show about how a company safety. The last level is the ultimate step expressing full transparency.
Transparency is a very interesting concept that triggers a basic psychological reaction. If you promote full transparency, people think you have nothing to hide, therefore, you are what you say.
There are 2 goals deeply linked:
- you show how you take care of the safety by explaining, by being educative;
- you reassure people because they know what you do and how you do it..
Some high level management have understandable difficulties to mediatize what may appear as operational difficulties. But again, you are explaining, educative anticipating the situations you will attract respect because you maintain people (journalist) in the loop of information. Never forget to invite people related to media to wathever is regarding safety. The 2 previous goals will also apply here
play the game with the journalist. again, invite them to whatever you do regarding safety. always the same 2 goals, educate and reasuure.
Later or soon, this level of transparency about safety wil be a recommendation before becoming a requirement from the civil aviation authority. Since some national authority requires the company to feed a national incidents-accidents database, the idea has been in the air for some time to open this database to the media.
At their level, the National Authorities will experienced the same benefits since they will show how they care about safety. As the result, the political consequences would be tremendously positive.
When this will be done, the next steps will be logically raised up to the airline level that will have to shpow how they care about safety...
Frank Caron, April 2011.
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