Registrants are from 35 States. 303 audits were conducted during the past year.
Additional definitions were added to the Audit Procedures Manual for clarification.
Auditors must objectively evaluate SMS performance for stage 2 and 3 audits, reporting the facts as evident in the operator’s activities. If that performance does not meet the levels of performance in response to the questions shown in the Audit Procedures Manual sections 5.8.2. and .3, auditors are obligated to recommend provisional status as shown in IS-BAO Policy 2012-03.
Auditors maintaining contact with clients may also wish to remind them of these facts.
Provisions have been made to permit registrants to request an extension to their registration validity period to the Audit Manager when unusual circumstances make compliance with the expiration date difficult or unlikely. While some requests are reasonable, a number of tales of woe sound like “the dog ate my homework” excuses. A major part of the SMS safety assurance issue is the management of change; last minute changes do occur but few extension requesters appear to energetically pursue change management initiatives. If the operator has been continuously conforming to IS-BAO standards, little preparation should be required for the audit.
The new SSA qualifying requirements may be found in IS-BAO Policy 2012-04.
We ask that all existing SSA listed on the IS-BAO Implementation Support page to comply with the new requirements as soon as possible but not later than 15 March 2013. If existing providers have not complied with the new policy by that time, their names will be removed from the list.
Ensure that all relevant boxes, check-off columns and fill-in-the-blank spaces on audit forms are all filled-in, even if the space is not applicable to your audit. If you don’t do this, it raises the question in the reviewer’s mind whether the auditor actually considered the item.
Findings forms are sometimes completed incorrectly due to lack of attention to the headings identifying the sections of the form. It is important to complete these correctly so operators fully understand the finding and take appropriate action. Also, it is permissible to place different findings within the same finding page if they are properly identified by standard number.
Please use the audit report forms provided by IS-BAO vs. using home-grown forms. It is difficult to determine whether all required items have been stated in some of the custom forms.
Some auditors are sending very large pdf files containing audit reports, protocols, etc. that exceed the mailbox size of some IS-BAO personnel. In general if the total size of all documents sent in a single email exceed 10 MB the mail delivery system will reject the transmission. Since the IS-BAO administration does not require signatures on any document, doc/docx formats are preferred but smaller pdf files are acceptable.
Some auditors are still claiming that operators use systems such as CAMP, CMP or CESSCOM as their aircraft maintenance schedule/program approved/accepted by the State of registry. These are maintenance records tracking programs and do not meet the maintenance schedule/program requirement.
1.	An operator’s Remedial Action Plan must be provided to the auditor not more than __ days following receipt of the auditor’s findings. The Remedial Action Plan must be sufficiently detailed to indicate substantive action and contain an ________ completion date, but it does not have to have been implemented.
3.	A stage 3 evaluation attempts to determine whether a positive safety culture is sustained. Which of the following statements is not an indicator of a positive safety culture?