AIRCARE™ is an integrated accreditation programme for all of an aviation business. It brings flight safety and environmental safety together in one safety assurance programme.
Aircraft operators are well versed in applying solid risk management procedures to flight safety so what AIRCARE™ does is to get them to use those same techniques to manage environmental safety, transport of patients, fire fighting and pilot training. There are a number of standards to which organisations can be accredited depending on what activities they undertake, but one common theme is that all participating companies are required to have sound risk management processes.
The accompanying flowchart represents the compliance requirements for aerial operators (except major airlines.) The left hand side deals with aviation safety and is
mandatory under the Civil Aviation Authority (CA) Act 1990. The reward for complying with the CAA requirements is continued certification and therefore continued licence to operate.
The right hand side deals with
voluntary codes of practice covering:
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Environmental management. Whereas Civil Aviation is regulated by just two Acts of Parliament, environmental management has some 44 Acts and 80 different regulations. The elements in these that affect aviation are discharges to land, water and air and amenity values (noise can be an amenity value). So whilst Agricultural Aviation is to do with discharges, the adverse effects of noise reach across all of aviation. The four codes of practice that make up the Environmental Management System are:
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GROWSAFE® Management of Agrichemicals (NZS8409:2004)
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SPREADMARK™ CoP for the Placement of Fertilisers in NZ
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AIRCARE™ CoP for the Aerial Application of Vertebrate Toxic Agents
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AIRCARE™ CoP for Noise Abatement
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EMS operations. The goal of this standard is to ensure that the quality of service by air ambulance/air rescue services in New Zealand promotes safety, consistency and is patient or recipient focused. The concept of safety and risk minimisation underpins the development of this document and builds upon the excellent safety record experienced in the sector to date. Air providers wishing to provide these services are expected to meet these standards.
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Flight Training. The purpose of this code is to enhance the professional practice of Flight Training providers through a process of consultation and collaboration within the Aviation Industry and to give confidence to Government and stakeholders in the effectiveness of aviation flight training in New Zealand.
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Fire Fighting under development
The flowchart shows that there is a robust management system that sits above all this. It is a Safety Management System (SMS). Aviation is adopting SMS to supplement the QMS systems it has been running for nearly 20 years. SMS is the management system operators should utilise to manage their compliance with both the CAA Rules and the
AIRCARE™ codes of practice. The SMS itself is auditable. In respect to
AIRCARE™ only four elements of SMS are being adopted at this stage. They are:
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A Quality Assurance process
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A procedure to identify hazards
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A procedure to place controls on the hazards
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A procedure to measure the effectiveness of those controls
i.e. QA and Risk Management
The Safety Management System and the Codes of Practice are third party audited, offering assured performance to regulators, customers and the public at large.
A number of the industry’s stakeholders have seen the programme and because they require best practice in their businesses, they are requiring AIRCARE™ Accreditation as a condition of contract. These include:
Landcorp
Land Information NZ
Animal Health Board
Department of Conservation (DOC)
Additionally DOC requires AIRCARE™ Accreditation as a condition of concession.
AIRCARE™ Elements in a nutshell There are only three elements to AIRCARE™.
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Pilot competency. Certification assures competency and is the reward for passing an assessment - for example on a code(s) of practice
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The organisation is required to run a safety management system. It is the organisation that is accredited – not the pilots. Accreditation is the reward the organisation gets for being able to demonstrate that its pilots comply with that code(s) every time they go to work
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Third Party audit
Demonstrating compliance can be achieved by operating a robust, auditable management system.
A copy of the codes of practice and the SMS Guidance Manual that includes the rules for accreditation are available on this website under
AIRCARE™ Resources.