Running head: COIN 496 ASSIGNMENT 1 1

COIN 496 Assignment 1

Jun Maezawa

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Dr. Daniel J. Benny

1/15/2020
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COIN 496 Assignment 1

Aviation has become one of, if not the safest means of transportation (Cusick, Cortes, &

Rodrigues, 2017, p. 312). As safety is paramount to the world of aviation it can be said that the

excellent safety culture is a result of numerous resources, organizations, and agencies that are

involved in the world of aviation. Some of these include the FAA, ICAO, OSHA, and the EPA

(Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 228).

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is arguably the most influential

aviation organization that exits today. Initially formed in 1944 during the Chicago convention as

a United Nations agency, its mission is to be the platform to develop global aviation through

policies and standards (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 256; ICAO, n.d., para. 1-2). The

ICAO has an international presence as it has offices across the globe and covers each continent

(Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 231). Furthermore, the organization is divided into five

bureaus and each one of them is responsible for oversight and rulemaking within their respective

category (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 230-237).

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is yet another governing agency that has a

global influence in the world of aviation today. The FAA is an American Federal agency that is

responsible for safety, conduct, air traffic control, research, and rulemaking associated with

aviation in the United States (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 238-241). The FAA took

many forms as a governing agency throughout history. It started as the Bureau of Air Commerce

in 1934 which then quickly turned into the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) in 1938 and then

eventually became the FAA in 1958 (FAA, 2017, para. 5-11). As with all governing agencies,

the FAA plays an important part in aviation in the United States. Not only it administers aviation

laws but the FAA is also responsible for airport planning and programming, the majority of the
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certification that is present today, safety inspections of all sorts, and also provides air traffic

services across the United States.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an organization created

during the 1970s to ensure safe working conditions and environment to workers in the United

States (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 256). The Occupational Safety and Health

Administration act of 1970 created the OSHA to enforce employers, mostly of the private sector

that were not protected by any federal agencies, to conduct safe operations and to make sure the

work environment is safe according to the standards set by OSHA (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues,

2017, p. 256). According to OSHA (2014), among the most important work OSHA does is set

standards, inspect employers, educate, train, and consult with employers (p. 1-3).

Finally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970 as an

independent government agency that will act to protect the environment and the health of

mankind (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 261). The EPA, among protecting our health

and the environment, is also active in many other fields. For instance, the EPA monitors and

researches to further increase the chances of benefiting the environment as well as educate local

governments and communities (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 256). The EPA also takes

part in the oversight of federal laws to make sure that it will not harm the environment and the

people (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 256).

There are many similarities and differences between the four agencies. One major

similarity is that all the agencies provide oversight in their respective fields. For instance, the

FAA governs almost every aspect of aviation in the United States while the ICAO is responsible

for a broader jurisdiction. The FAA, for example, recently announced that a CTP course is

required prior to taking the exams (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 254). This is
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enforcement by the FAA and not the ICAO as it is nation-specific. On the other hand, OSHA and

EPA are governing agencies that are not specific to aviation. In 2000, the OSHA initiated the

ergonomics standard to prevent injury caused by poor posture and repetitive motion (Cusick,

Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 260). However, this was not specific to the aviation industry but

rather an oversight of a much broader category of workers. Similarly, the EPA superintends a

much broader category and not just aviation. In fact, most of the acts associated with the EPA

did not target aviation specifically but rather a variety of fields (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues,

2017, p. 255-257). That been said, every one of the agencies has, or at one point had, influence

and oversight over aviation. Obviously, the FAA and ICAO have direct influence over the world

of aviation as they are the rule-makers. However, EPA and OSHA also had some impact on

aviation. For instance, the Noise Control Act of 1981 was initiated by EPA and in 2013 it had

succeeded to implement a new rule through ICAO (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 266-

267).

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency that

is tasked with investigating every transportation accident, assessing the cause, and publishing

safety-related recommendations to be implemented in the future (NTSB, n.d., para. 1-3). NTSB

is a crucial part of modern aviation and safety culture. According to the NTSB (n.d.), not only it

is tasked with the accident investigation but more importantly, the NTSB issues safety

recommendations after assessing the cause of the accident (NTSB, n.d., para. 1-3). The process

involved with the investigation is carefully structured. With only 400 employees, the NTSB uses

a party system in which several organizations are chosen to become a part of the investigation

team (NTSB, 2002, p. 13-14). The NTSB may seem like a passive player in the world of

transportation, however, through safety recommendations, it is able to advocate safe practices to

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many governmental bodies across the United States (National Transportation Safety Board, n.d.,

para. 1-2). To illustrate this, the NTSB publishes safety recommendations through the NTSB

website, furthermore, all the accident reports are public and can be easily accessed and learned

from (National Transportation Safety Board, n.d.,). However, the quintessence of the

proactiveness of the NTSB was perhaps the aftermath of the near mid-air collision of FedEx

MD-10 and Air Canada A320 over Lincoln, Nebraska in 1999 (National Transportation Safety

Board, 2007, p. 10). Prior to this incident, cargo planes were not required to be equipped with a

traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) which could have prevented this incident (National

Transportation Safety Board, 2007, p. 10). Upon the investigation, it was concluded that TCAS

needed to be equipped even for cargo planes which then ultimately led to the implementation of

the TCAS system into cargo planes as well (National Transportation Safety Board, 2007, p. 10).

It is quite apparent that the NTSB plays a major part in aviation safety in the United

States. The NTSB serves both as an investigator and a preventer and it is responsible for

disseminating safety information and recommendation so that the aviation community learns

from past mistakes. Without an investigational organization such as the NTSB, the aviation

community would be completely oblivious to the danger of certain procedures and practices, thus

it can be said that the work done by the NTSB is the essential constituent of the safety culture we

currently have.

Safety is paramount in every aspect of aviation. In order to analyze aviation accidents and

incidents, several models were developed. One of the most widely recognized models is the

swiss cheese model created by Dr. James T Reasons (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 94-

95). This model is based on the notion that accidents and incidents occur when different levels of

failure align (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 96). Reason introduced four levels of failure
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and they are organizational, supervisory, preconditions, and unsafe acts (Cusick, Cortes, &

Rodrigues, 2017, p. 96). Each level has several holes and accidents occur when the holes from all

the levels align. This model, however, does not solely focus on human decision making but

rather the surroundings (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 96-97). Instead, Reason argued

that outside factors surrounding the pilots lead to bad decision making which ultimately leads to

an accident (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 96-97). Therefore, the pilot’s decision

making, good or bad, is the last piece of swiss cheese. Thus, if the error manages to pass through

all the holes, including the last one which is decision making, an accident occurs.

The SHELL model, on the other hand, focuses on the interaction between humans and

other factors such as software, liveware, and environment (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p.

100). At the center of the puzzle is the human or the liveware as in this model, humans are the

main player and the only one that is inconsistent (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 100).

This model shifts the focus more on the pilots rather than outside factors as it assumes human

factors as the sole reason for errors. In a single glance, one can notice that this model attempts to

decipher what can possibly go wrong with the pilot’s decision making.

The 5-Factor model is yet another model in which the human, machine, management,

mission, and the medium is considered in order to prevent future accidents (Cusick, Cortes, &

Rodrigues, 2017, p. 101-102). This model is used more like a checklist to prevent errors that

stems from the five factors. For instance, the human factor takes every human that is involved in

the process such as the pilots, the fuelers, the loader and so forth (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues,

2017, p. 101). On the other hand, the medium or the environment involves the weather, as well

as airport conditions and pilot training, standards, and procedures (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues,

2017, p. 110).
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The shared theory among all the models is that there is no single source that causes

aviation accidents and incidents, it is rather a combination of many errors and circumstances that

eventually cause a mishap. The difference between the models, however, is the perspective. In

the swiss cheese model, the perspective is much wider than that of the SHELL model for the

swiss cheese model includes a variety of outside sources other than merely the flight deck and

the pilots. On the other hand, the SHELL model focuses on a narrower view of how the pilots

interact with their immediate surroundings. Finally, the 5-factor model reaches beyond the

former two models and includes almost the entire operation.

Even with all the models and statistics, measuring aviation safety is no easy task.

According to Cusik, Cortes, and Rodrigues (2017), there simply is no way to prove that accidents

will not happen at some point (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 56-57). Even with a perfect

record, the next flight could very well result in an accident as luck or chance also plays a role in

safety (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 112-114). Therefore, a perfect statistic or a safety

record of a particular airline does not truly guarantee safety. This can be illustrated with the

example of U.S Airways flight 1549 as the Airbus A320 suffered dual engine failure due to bird

strikes at a dangerously low altitude (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 56). Therefore, the

only measurable variable is how well safety culture is implemented in everyday operation. These

variables are called Safety Performance Indicators (SPI), and they can indicate how well safety is

practiced on a daily basis (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017, p. 59).

In conclusion, safety is taken very seriously in the world of aviation. There are numerous

resources, organizations, and agencies that help prevent future accidents by tackling the issue in

a different direction. There are regulators such as the FAA and the ICAO that proactively

promote safety by providing oversight over the world of aviation while the NTSB tries to turn its
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reactive nature to proactively promote safety by educating the aviation community. There are

also attempts to decipher the cause of accidents by categorizing them into different models.

However, even with all the effort, absolute safety is assumed to be unachievable as there will

always be an external element that is out of anybody’s control such as chance and luck. It is

important to understand, however, that aviation is one of the safest means of transportation

because of all efforts to minimize accidents by the organizations and the resources mentioned in

this article and more. After all, safety is the number one priority when it comes to aviation.
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References:

ICAO. (n.d.). Vision and Mission. Retrieved from https://www.icao.int/about-

icao/Council/Pages/vision-and-mission.aspx

Cusick, S., Cortes, A., & Rodrigues, C. (2017). Commercial Aviation Safety, Sixth Edition. New

York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

FAA. (2017, January 4). A Brief History of the FAA. Retrieved from

https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history/

OSHA. (2014). OSHA At A Glance. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/Publications/3439at-

a-glance.pdf

National Transportation Safety Board. (2007). Lessons Learned and Lives Saved. Retrieved from

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/process/Documents/MajorInvestigationsManual.pdf

National Transportation Safety Board. (n.d.).  Safety Advocacy. Retrieved from

https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/Pages/default.aspx

NTSB. (2002, November). National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Investigation Manual

Major Team Investigations. Retrieved from

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/process/Documents/MajorInvestigationsManual.pdf

NTSB. (n.d.).  About the National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved from

https://www.ntsb.gov/about/Pages/default.aspx
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