The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) is calling for European states to adopt a non-punitive voluntary reporting system for air safety occurrences, rather than encouraging a culture of blame and criminal prosecution which discourages the sharing of safety information.

Antonis Simigdalas, ERA President and COO of Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, says: “The open and transparent reporting of safety incidents is crucial for accident prevention and the further enhancement of air safety.  However, all aviation personnel, including pilots, cabin crew, maintenance staff, air traffic controllers, flight safety officers, even administrative staff, must be willing to disclose and share such information and be confident that they do so without penalty or fear of prosecution.”

Addressing delegates this week at the ERA Regional Airline Conference in Malta, Simigdalas’ words hold particular relevance as the UK Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into effect on 6 April.  The new law allows for the prosecution of a corporate body - as opposed to an individual - for any death(s) caused by failures within senior management and applies to any company or corporate body that operates in the UK.

“Prosecution is justified when it can be shown that wilful disregard for established procedures, deliberate misuse of equipment, abuse of substances or anything similar has recklessly endangered the safe operation of a flight.  However, where the cause of an incident or accident is due to human fallibility and all involved have used their best endeavours to ensure the safe operation of a flight, the use of reported data for criminalisation purposes acts directly against the larger public interest and the future safety of European flight operations,” Simigdalas continued.

Human factors remain a crucial element in most serious air incidents or accidents.  ERA has strongly advocated the Europe-wide implementation of a ‘no-penalty’ reporting system since the late 1990s.  The justification and purpose for such a system is clear and is in the interests of the overwhelming majority of EU citizens and air travellers.  It enables:

• management action (eg training, amendment of procedures, revision of maintenance schedules) to correct problems that would otherwise be unknown, including the detection of trends
• sharing of this safety information across the industry so that lessons can be learned by other operators.