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Safety Monitoring
Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme Continuous Monitoring Approach (USOAP CMA)
Pursuant to Assembly Resolution A37-5, the activities within the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme Continuous Monitoring Approach (USOAP CMA) continued in 2015.
The CMA Online Framework (OLF) continued to be the main platform for ICAO to monitor, evaluate and report States’ safety-oversight-related information and documentation, track CMA activities, and manage USOAP CMA data in “real time”.
During 2015, the OLF was migrated to a cloud-based platform and its speed was enhanced. In addition, detailed guidance materials and tutorials were developed and made available to users. States continued to use the OLF to update their information and to prepare for upcoming USOAP CMA activities.
Computer-based Training (CBT) was conducted as a prerequisite for State experts to be nominated as auditors and subject matter experts to perform CMA activities, including USOAP CMA audits and ICAO Coordinated Validation Missions (ICVMs). During 2015, 62 participants took the CBT for this purpose, bringing the total, since the initial launch of the CBT in 2011, to 326 participants from 67 States and 12 international/regional organizations. CBT was also used as a means of familiarizing States’ safety oversight employees with the methodology and processes of USOAP CMA. Since 2011 and as of the end of 2015, 489 participants from 90 States and 12 international/regional organizations took the CBT for familiarization training. In total, 815 participants have taken the CBT since 2011. The CBT is available for all audit areas.
During this reporting period, ICAO conducted ten seminars/workshops to assist Member States in their participation in USOAP CMA and, particularly, their preparation for an upcoming USOAP CMA activity. A total of 298 participants from 67 States and nine international/regional organizations attended the seminars/workshops.
In 2015, ten audits were conducted as planned to determine the capability of States for safety oversight and the status of the States’ implementation of safety-related ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), procedures and guidance material. Eighteen ICVMs were conducted to determine whether Member States had satisfactorily resolved previously identified safety deficiencies. In addition, 23 off-site validation activities, launched as a new type of activity in 2014, were conducted in 2015 with the objective of assessing and validating corrective action plans (CAPs) implemented by a State to address certain eligible findings without conducting an on-site activity, i.e. without conducting an audit or ICVM.
The increasing efforts of States in resolving their safety deficiencies and improving their Effective Implementation rates has created an increased demand for ICAO to conduct more off-site validation activities to validate the progress reported by States.
ICAO Regional Offices continued to actively support USOAP CMA by conducting and participating in ICVMs.
The Quality Management System (QMS) of monitoring oversight was audited in September, and its compliance with the ISO 9001:2008 QMS standard was confirmed. Under the QMS, procedures and documents supporting CMA activities continued to be developed and/or updated.
