14.3 Making Decisions About Risk Mitigations
A frequently overlooked but critical aspect of risk mitigation is the decision-making process to implement risk mitigation actions, particularly at larger airports where key decisionmakers may not be able to participate in SRA panels.
When an SRA is conducted, the panel will recommend several actions to address the risks identified and sometimes assign the parties responsible for implementing those actions. How ever, non-participation of key decisionmakers in the SRA panels, or the lack of cost estimates to implement the actions, may postpone the decisions for some of the actions, particularly those involving significant expenditures. At smaller airports, key decisionmakers typically participate in SRA panels and decisions can be made in a timely manner.
In any case, following the documentation ofrisk mitigation action during an SRA, it is neces- sary to make final decisions about implementing the recommended actions, assigning respon sibilities, establishing a schedule, and monitoring to ensure the implementation is completed lf some actions are not approved, the SRA documentation should be updated and, if necessary, the residual risk classification should be changed to reflect that one or more actions will not be implemented or will be modified. Ideally, the approval process for risk control actions should be described in the airport's SMS manual.
Figure 14-2 illustrates the flow of safety management information and decision making for a large-hub airport. The SMS manager can take some simple and immediate decisions on fre- quently reported hazards. If the implementation of risk mitigation actions involves more sig nificant resources, decision making is taken to the upper levels of management. However, if actions involve multiple stakeholders and significant resources, decisions about which mitiga- tion actions will be implemented are made with the support of cost information during stake- holder meetings.