Sample – Protection of Reporters – From ICAO SMM

Protection of the Reporters

We will have a Fair and Just Culture

The Company is committed to operate according to the highest safety standards.

To achieve this goal, it is imperative to have uninhibited reporting of all accidents, incidents, events, hazards, risks and other information that may compromise the safe conduct of our operations. To this end, every staff member is actively encouraged to, and responsible for, reporting any safety-related information.

Reporting is free of any form of reprisal. The purpose of reporting is risk control and accident and incident prevention, not the attribution of blame. No action will be taken against any staff member who discloses a safety concern through the reporting system, unless such disclosure reveals, beyond any reasonable doubt, an illegal act, gross negligence, or a deliberate or wilful disregard of regulations or procedures.

Our method for collecting, recording and disseminating safety information guarantees the protection to the extent permissible by law, of the identity of those who report safety information.

____________________________(Signed)

_________________ (dated)

CEO

Acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour?

It is recommended that clear descriptions of behaviour considered by the Company as acceptable (for instance genuine unintentional errors) and non-acceptable (for instance wilful disregard of procedures, falsification of documentation, sabotage) and of their consequences (disciplinary policy) are set out such that the differentiation between these two types of behaviour are perfectly known and understood by everyone in the Company.

It is then of primary importance to apply this distinction in a consistent manner, so that decisions are always interpreted as ‘fair and just’ and that no feeling of injustice could be perceived by personnel which could seriously hamper the continued reporting of safety information. Consideration should be given to the use of ‘Prof James Reason – A decision tree for determining culpability for unsafe acts’