Hazard Taxonomy Examples
Hazard Taxonomy Examples
Hazard Taxonomy Examples
July 2018
This paper was prepared by the Safety Management International Collaboration Group (SM ICG). The
purpose of the SM ICG is to promote a common understanding of Safety Management System
(SMS)/State Safety Program (SSP) principles and requirements, facilitating their application across the
international aviation community. In this document, the term “organization” refers to a product or
service provider, operator, business, and company, as well as aviation industry organizations; and the
term “authority” refers to the regulator authority, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), National Aviation
Authority (NAA), and any other relevant government agency or entity with oversight responsibility.
The current core membership of the SM ICG includes the Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) of
Spain, the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) of Brazil, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Netherlands
(CAA NL), the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA NZ), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
(CAAS), Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong (CAD HK), the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of
Australia, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) in France, the Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione
Civile (ENAC) in Italy, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Federal Office of Civil Aviation
(FOCA) of Switzerland, the Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi), the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA),
Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation
Safety Organization, Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA), United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation
Authority (UAE GCAA), and the Civil Aviation Authority of United Kingdom (UK CAA). Additionally, the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is an observer to this group.
Collaborate with international organizations such as ICAO and civil aviation authorities that have
implemented or are implementing SMS and SSP
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to introduce a hazard taxonomy and provide examples of specific
aviation sector hazards in each of the taxonomy categories. This document is intended to be used by civil
aviation authorities (CAAs) and service providers that are in the initial stages of safety management
development/ implementation. This document only introduces basic taxonomy examples; therefore, use
of additional sources in conjunction is recommended. Additionally, this document will be provided to the
Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) for further
consideration.
BACKGROUND
In 2010, the SM ICG published Development of a Common Taxonomy for Hazards, which proposed a
process for the development of a common taxonomy for hazards related to civil aviation. That document
provided the rationale for developing a hazard taxonomy, proposed general definitions of a hazard, and
also proposed a near term and far term approach to developing a taxonomy and categorizing hazards.
However, since the publication of that document ICAO had defined hazard in Annex 19 Edition 2 and
CICTT has accepted the high level hazard categories established by SM ICG. Thus, this document
supersedes the SM ICG “Development of a common Taxonomy for Hazards” document.
In coordination with the CICTT, the following high level hazard taxonomy categories have been
established:
Note: ICAO Annex 19 Edition 2 has defined hazard to be a condition or an object with the potential to
cause or contribute to an aircraft incident or accident.
SCOPE
The CICTT hazard taxonomy development effort was supported by the SM ICG. The initial focus was to
develop a classification methodology to group the types of hazards into broad categories that would apply
to all aviation sectors. As stated above, the SM ICG recommended that the CICTT categorize the hazard
taxonomy into the following general categories: Environmental, Technical, Organizational, and Human.
The CICTT agreed to this categorization schema. This document contains specific taxonomy examples
that the SM ICG is proposing for each of the categories applicable to Aerodrome, Air Navigation, Air
Operation, Maintenance, and Design and Manufacturing aviation sectors. The examples align with the
specific hazard definition stated above.
In this document, specific hazards have been described at a high level for each aviation sector.
Additionally, it was determined that organizational, environmental, and human hazards are mostly
generic, and apply to all aviation sectors at the high level. Human hazards are described as both hazards
that have a direct safety effect in each aviation sector and hazards with latent effects that could later
surface during aircraft manufacturing, operations and maintenance.
During the development of this document, aviation sector experts determined that specific aviation sector
hazards may have descriptions of absence and/or judgmental adjectives since experience through
accident/incident investigation and subsequent root cause analysis validates those types of specific
hazards.
The following illustration shows an example of this causal chain concept in the Design and
Manufacturing sector:
1
Note that there are many more complex accident/incident models than the one cited here. Over the years, accident models have
moved from linear cause-effect sequences to systemic descriptions of emergent phenomena (e.g., Functional Resonance Accident
Model by Erik Hollnagel, which uses the principle of stochastic resonance in a system context).
SM ICG Hazard Taxonomy Examples
2
Due to complexity in the aviation system, it would be very difficult to develop comprehensive hazard
taxonomies for each aviation sector, unless all of the possible causal chains and contributing factors can
be identified, described and documented, and continually updated based on potential future
incidents/accidents, which is beyond the scope of this document. In addition, hazards may be different in
service provider organizations based on their specific business processes. Therefore, the specific hazard
taxonomy elements in this document are only examples of some of the more basic understood hazards in
each aviation sector based on expert opinion. It is anticipated that with more mature safety management
processes in place, these example hazards will be developed further based on aggregate data from
multiple service providers and analysis of systems under consideration to understand causal and
contributing factors for interdependencies.
Finally, the aviation community has recently initiated activities to further develop a more systematic and
comprehensive hazard taxonomy effort. This future development will enable the global aviation
community to share and aggregate information related to hazards.
Organizational
Type of
Type of activity/
Examples of Hazards
operation infrastructure/
system
Lack of, poor or ineffective legislation and/or regulations
Regulator Lack of or ineffective accident investigation capability
Inadequate oversight capability
Limited or lack of management commitment – Management do
not demonstrate support for the activity
Aerodrome,
Lack of or incomplete description of roles, accountabilities and
Air Navigation responsibilities
Service Provider, Limited or lack of resource availability or planning, including
staffing
Air Operation,
Lack of or ineffective policies
Maintenance Incorrect or incomplete procedures including instructions
Management
Organization, Lack of or poor management and labor relationships
Lack of or ineffective organizational structure
Design &
Manufacturing Poor organizational safety culture
Organization Lack of or ineffective safety management processes (including
risk management, safety assurance, auditing, training and
resource allocation)
Lack or ineffective audit procedures
Lack of or limited resource allocation
Incorrect or incomplete or lack of training and knowledge
Aerodrome, transfer.
Management
Note: Training should reflect the needs of the organization.
Air Navigation Accidents have shown that inadequate training is a hazard and
(continued)
Service Provider, may lead to accidents.
2
Security issues can certainly effect safety; however, the SM ICG has intentionally left out potential security hazards since this
group does not possess the expertise to address this topic.
SM ICG Hazard Taxonomy Examples
3
Organizational
Type of
Type of activity/
Examples of Hazards
operation infrastructure/
system
Unofficial organizational structures
Note: These structures may be of a benefit but also may lead to
a hazard.
Growth, strikes, recession or organizational financial distress
Mergers or acquisition
Changes, upgrades or new tools, equipment, processes or
facilities
Incorrect or ineffective shift/crew member change over
procedures
Changes or turnover in management or employees
Air Operation, Informal processes (Standard Operating Procedures)
Lack of or poor or inappropriate materials/equipment
Maintenance acquisition decisions
Organization,
Lack of, poor staffing recruitment/assignment
Design & Note: Staff should be hired or assigned according to
Manufacturing organizational needs but also according to their skills,
Organization qualifications and abilities. An employee with the wrong skill set
can be a hazard. This includes management.
(continued) Incorrect, poor or lack of internal and external communication
including language barriers
Lack of, incorrect or incomplete manuals, or operating
procedures (including maintenance)
Documentation, Lack of, incorrect or incomplete employee duty descriptions
Processes and
Lack of, incorrect, incomplete or complicated document update
Procedures
processes
Lack of, incorrect or incomplete reports and records
Lack of, incorrect or incomplete control of necessary documents
for personnel (licenses, ratings, and certificates)
Human
Type of
Type of activity/
Examples of Hazards
operation infrastructure/
system
Aerodrome, Sudden Heart attack, Stroke, Kidney stone, Seizure
Incapacitation
Air Navigation
Subtle Nausea, Diarrhea, Carbon monoxide, Medication, Fatigue
Service Provider,
Incapacitation/
Air Operation, Impairment
Illness Influenza, Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (TI), Urinary TI
Maintenance
Organization, Color vision, Visual field limitations, Mobility limitations,
Static Limitations
Colostomy bag, Hearing loss
Design & Fatigue (lack of sleep), Alcohol and substance abuse,
Self-Imposed
Manufacturing Medications, Complacency
Stresses
Organization
Latent Failures
Design &
Related to Man/ Human factors related to design, manufacturing, maintenance
Manufacturing
Machine/ Process and operations.
Organization
Interface
(continued) Cognitive Excessive number of aircraft in a controller's area; Varying
Capacity multi-tasking actions; Over saturation of digital information
Technical - Aerodrome
Type of
Type of activity/
Examples of Hazards
operation infrastructure/
system
Construction, vehicles and people on movement area
Poor aerodrome design (Intersecting runways; Obstacle
clearance; Taxiway crossing runways)
Runway Distracting lights
Operations Lack of coordination with Air Traffic Control (ATC)
Improper, inadequate, or lack of Notices to Airmen
Aerodrome (NOTAMs) issuance
Laser beams
Poor condition or improper runway surface