Saturday, March 11, 2006

Recurrent Training

The aviation industry acknowledges the fact that most people don't remember what they've been taught for very long, so it requires us to be told the same things over and over again, every year. They've recently introduced a new thing for us to be reminded of every year, and that is safety management. I was hoping to escape this round by giving notice and getting to do it at a new company, but that hasn't happened yet, so on my upcoming schedule I have two mornings of safety management training.

Two mornings? One of them is even on what should have been my day off, and as it isn't flying, it doesn't count as flight duty time, so it cuts directly into what remains of my life. And seeing as they are holding another seminar in the corresponding afternoons, for the other half of the company, why not just do one half of us one day, and the other half the next day, allowing everyone to write off just one day of their life? Well it turns out that there is a reason.

As I heard it, Transport Canada mandates that all employees holding certain designated positions in the aviation industry must have two days per year of safety management systems training. The rule doesn't say how many hours constitutes a "day," so a single eight hour course qualifies, so long as it is split over two days. Loopholes!

In other news, my phone calls to Vole have paid off and the current round of telephone tag targets setting up a telephone interview, which should occur sometime this week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck.

Mort's Mom

Anonymous said...

As I heard it, Transport Canada mandates that all employees holding certain designated positions in the aviation industry must have two days per year of safety management systems training. The rule doesn't say how many hours constitutes a "day," so a single eight hour course qualifies, so long as it is split over two days. Loopholes!

Maybe I missed something, but I don't see anywhere in the published SMS information where it states how much or how often training is required. The regulation does state:

705.152 (1) The safety management system shall include, among others, the following components:

...

(f) training requirements for the operations manager, the maintenance manager and personnel assigned duties under the safety management system;


CAR 705.152 - Components of the Safety Management System
http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/Regserv/Affairs/cars/Part7/705.htm#705_152

Safety Management Systems (SMS)
http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/SMS/menu.htm

Aviatrix said...

The words "as I heard it" were supposed to indicate my lack of research to confirm the "two day" requirement. Perhaps the true reason is known only to management.