Depending on your industry, the word safety may conjure up images of protecting customers, co-workers, the general public or the environment. For companies that operate complex equipment, improving safety is not a strategy it is a moral imperative. But safety comes with a price-time and money. Safety initiatives have a tendency to slow things down and increase costs. Since every business activity includes an element of risk, physical and/or financial, the question becomes, "How to ensure business operations are both safe and efficient?"

I bring this up because making safety an integral part of normal business operations is no easy task. One way is to constantly remind workers of the safety imperative-hoping they will remain vigilant in all their activities. The problem with this approach is that saying the same thing over and over again tends to dull the senses, so that the safety message now falls on deaf ears. Another way is to add safety information into the normal workflow and information systems used by workers. This approach avoids belaboring the message that safety is important, which everyone understands, and instead delivers the necessary information when and where it can be put to use.

In the December issue of MRO Management, Japan Airlines (JAL) describes their experience integrating safety into maintenance operations. The key for JAL seems to be information and communication-collecting information regarding maintenance and safety concerns and communicating that information to all those with a need to know. The article focuses on JAL's safety management system (SMS), "Feedback from problems encountered is put back into the system. If, for example, a part is missing from a component, a warning tag is quickly generated and attached to the component. This may even explain that a flight was cancelled because of the problem-a reminder that the airline's core business is the safe arrival of passengers at their destination. If there is a recurrent problem, then a quality control notice will be put on the relevant page of the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM). If the mechanic clicks on a box, a page will appear, explaining the nature of the problem."

The key to JAL's success seems to be that safety and maintenance information is intertwined. Safety concerns are not handled as a separate issue but are integrated into the key systems and workflows of the maintenance process. As a result, safety concerns can't be overlooked and workers don't become deaf to the safety imperative.

Adding safety information to maintenance systems and linking it to service manuals is the key to helping mechanics improve safe operations without increasing costs. Enigma is pleased to be part of JAL's solution. Working together, JAL and Enigma have developed many innovations that improve scheduled and unscheduled maintenance operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and ensure the safety of passengers, workers, the public and the environment. JAL will be talking about their approach to maintenance at MRO Asia next week in Hong Kong. We hope to see you there.