The aviation law enforcement community, and members of our aviation industry in general, continue to talk about Safety Management Systems and their implementation. A number of aviation organizations now have Safety Management System SMS in place, but they vary considerably in terms of employee acceptance, effectiveness, and ease of use. This is due in part to the fact that guidance is still forthcoming, and also because each organization’s SMS is typically developed from within, based on existing safety climate/culture and accident prevention programs that have evolved over time. Sadly, many organizations that have “implemented” SMS find themselves with little more than just another manual sitting on the shelf. Most people are in agreement that SMS is a “data-driven approach to safety”. In essence, this means we collect and analyze data, identify hazards and latent conditions, assess risk, and implement risk controls in order to prevent accidents. Some organizations are collecting dat...