Safety Management
AirCARE1 is committed to providing the best patient care in the air with empathy and compassion. The primary factor ensuring superior care is to provide a safe environment for patients and family members (as well as AirCARE1 employees) by utilizing a Safety Management System.
The Safety Management System (SMS) is Risk Management in the Air Ambulance setting. While risk in aviation as well as daily life cannot be eliminated, it must be managed in order to minimize the severity of consequences as well as likelihood of an adverse event actually occurring.
While the United States does not have a mandated Safety Management System, AirCARE1 has chosen to make safety a top priority within our organization by implementing a Safety Management System. Working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, AirCARE1 has been recognized as an “active participant” in the FAA’s Safety Management System Voluntary Program.
Safety Integrated within AirCARE1
Our Safety Management System is not a separate system, but instead is completely integrated within and throughout all company policies and procedures. The framework of our SMS is organized around the Four Pillars of Safety Management:
AirCARE1 is committed to fostering a culture of safety promotion and risk management. This safety culture consists of psychological – how people think, behavioral – how people act, and organizational elements. The safety culture is unconditionally supported by the president of the company and is promoted across all departments within AirCARE1.
The AirCARE1 Difference
We make a difference in the lives of our patients and family members by safely transporting them to their destinations. All AirCARE1 employees are involved at the core level of the safety management process. Our training program provides our employees the expertise and experience to identify potential hazards, improve company operations, and monitor operations in real-time. Every employee is empowered to safety stop a flight if they identify a potential hazard to safe operation. AirCARE1 performs ongoing evaluations of organizational structure, processes and procedures, staff, equipment, and facilities. The safety committee consists of personnel from every department and meets quarterly to review safety performances relative to the established safety objectives, compliance with and effectiveness of safety risk controls, and newly identified hazards to operations. In addition, all employees go through annual training including general overview of the Safety Management System, review of revisions to existing policies and procedures, introduction to new policies and procedures, and discussions about any new safety concerns.