Safety
Collaborative frameworks will be essential in identifying industry safety trends.
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
This initiative focuses on benchmarking safety culture across multiple air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to unlock new insights and lessons learned,” says Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol. “This benchmarking approach aligns closely with the CANSO Safety Management System (SMS) Maturity Model, helping ANSPs reach higher levels of maturity in safety excellence.”
One of the most significant frameworks is the Collaborative Safety Culture Benchmarking Programme, developed through the CANSO Human Performance Management (HPM) Workgroup in partnership with Austrocontrol (Austria), Skyguide (Switzerland) and NAV CANADA.
Safety is an area ripe for industry collaboration. By systematically comparing safety culture data, organisations can move beyond isolated assessments and instead identify industry-wide patterns, best practices and areas for targeted improvement.
Variability in risk perception between different organisations can highlight blind spots that would otherwise go unnoticed without external comparison.
Benchmarking organisational learning processes helps to identify which methods are most effective in improving safety outcomes.
Strong safety cultures correlate with high engagement in Just Culture principles and proactive reporting.
Another key takeaway is that achieving higher SMS maturity levels is not just about compliance but rather requires continuous cultural evolution, where lessons from benchmarking drive real operational changes.
Benchmarking has revealed that while every organisation has unique operational contexts, certain human performance challenges and safety culture trends are universal. By comparing data across ANSPs, several important lessons have been learned:
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
The key enabler is a shared commitment to improving safety...
“Once partnerships are established, maintaining them becomes easier because the benefits of collaboration are evident,” Vink confirms. “The CANSO HPM Workgroup has successfully fostered long-term engagement by focusing on practical, data-driven improvements rather than just theoretical discussions. The key enabler is a shared commitment to improving safety beyond regulatory compliance, using benchmarking as a tool for continuous improvement.”
Global partnerships in safety culture require a foundation of trust and transparency. Although some organisations may be hesitant to share safety data initially, structured benchmarking frameworks – where data is anonymised and used constructively – can build confidence in collaboration.
The Collaborative Safety Culture Programme operates through a streamlined and structured process designed to encourage broad participation while maintaining consistency and data integrity.
Participants in the CANSO HPM Workgroup complete 16 standardised safety culture questions, distributed digitally, ensuring comparability across organisations. Demographic context is provided by three high-level questions. Anonymity is maintained but the benchmarking becomes more meaningful as a result.
A dedicated benchmarking dashboard for each participant then allows them to compare their results with other ANSPs, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
“Results are reviewed with external experts through the CANSO NextGen SMS Workgroup and the HPM Workgroup, fostering peer-to-peer learning and strategic improvement initiatives,” informs Vink. “This approach ensures that benchmarking is not just a one-time assessment but a continuous improvement process. By providing real-time comparative insights, ANSPs can align their safety culture evolution with global best practices and achieve higher maturity within the CANSO SMS Standards of Excellence.”
To join, organisations should contact the CANSO HPM Workgroup [safety@CANSO.org]. The more diversity in the membership, the better the benchmarking.
As benchmarking matures, it will become an even more powerful mechanism...
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
“Ultimately, benchmarking is one of the keys to unlocking new insights in safety management and enhancing maturity,” says Vink. “By making safety culture comparisons across organisations, we shift from isolated improvements to industry-wide advancements, ensuring that all ANSPs benefit from collective learning and continuous safety evolution.
“As benchmarking matures, it will become an even more powerful mechanism for driving continuous safety culture evolution, helping ANSPs proactively address emerging risks rather than responding to incidents after they occur.”
Efforts will also be made to improve the existing safety benchmarking framework. Increased automation and AI-driven analytics will extract deeper insights from safety culture data, for example. Peer-to-peer networks will also be strengthened to facilitate direct exchange of best practice and in 2026 workshops are planned where a menu of safety culture improvements will be made available.
Several areas could potentially benefit from the approach taken by the CANSO HPM Workgroup. Data-driven benchmarking and standardisation would help develop more effective risk mitigation strategies in fatigue risk management, for example.
Meanwhile, using artificial intelligence (AI)-based benchmarking to analyse cognitive workload and error likelihood in operational settings could help human performance. And benchmarking safety outcomes in environments with varying levels of automation might allow ANSPs to better understand human-machine interaction.
An interesting area is cybersecurity. Applying safety culture benchmarking principles could assist organisations in measuring and improving cybersecurity awareness among operational staff.
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Safety
Collaborative frameworks will be essential in identifying industry safety trends.
Safety is an area ripe for industry collaboration. By systematically comparing safety culture data, organisations can move beyond isolated assessments and instead identify industry-wide patterns, best practices and areas for targeted improvement.
One of the most significant frameworks is the Collaborative Safety Culture Benchmarking Programme, developed through the CANSO Human Performance Management (HPM) Workgroup in partnership with Austrocontrol (Austria), Skyguide (Switzerland) and NAV CANADA.
This initiative focuses on benchmarking safety culture across multiple air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to unlock new insights and lessons learned,” says Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol. “This benchmarking approach aligns closely with the CANSO Safety Management System (SMS) Maturity Model, helping ANSPs reach higher levels of maturity in safety excellence.”
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
Benchmarking has revealed that while every organisation has unique operational contexts, certain human performance challenges and safety culture trends are universal. By comparing data across ANSPs, several important lessons have been learned:
Strong safety cultures correlate with high engagement in Just Culture principles and proactive reporting.
Benchmarking organisational learning processes helps to identify which methods are most effective in improving safety outcomes.
Variability in risk perception between different organisations can highlight blind spots that would otherwise go unnoticed without external comparison.
Another key takeaway is that achieving higher SMS maturity levels is not just about compliance but rather requires continuous cultural evolution, where lessons from benchmarking drive real operational changes.
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
Global partnerships in safety culture require a foundation of trust and transparency. Although some organisations may be hesitant to share safety data initially, structured benchmarking frameworks – where data is anonymised and used constructively – can build confidence in collaboration.
“Once partnerships are established, maintaining them becomes easier because the benefits of collaboration are evident,” Vink confirms. “The CANSO HPM Workgroup has successfully fostered long-term engagement by focusing on practical, data-driven improvements rather than just theoretical discussions. The key enabler is a shared commitment to improving safety beyond regulatory compliance, using benchmarking as a tool for continuous improvement.”
The key enabler is a shared commitment to improving safety...
The Collaborative Safety Culture Programme operates through a streamlined and structured process designed to encourage broad participation while maintaining consistency and data integrity.
Participants in the CANSO HPM Workgroup complete 16 standardised safety culture questions, distributed digitally, ensuring comparability across organisations. Demographic context is provided by three high-level questions. Anonymity is maintained but the benchmarking becomes more meaningful as a result.
A dedicated benchmarking dashboard for each participant then allows them to compare their results with other ANSPs, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
“Results are reviewed with external experts through the CANSO NextGen SMS Workgroup and the HPM Workgroup, fostering peer-to-peer learning and strategic improvement initiatives,” informs Vink. “This approach ensures that benchmarking is not just a one-time assessment but a continuous improvement process. By providing real-time comparative insights, ANSPs can align their safety culture evolution with global best practices and achieve higher maturity within the CANSO SMS Standards of Excellence.”
To join, organisations should contact the CANSO HPM Workgroup [safety@CANSO.org]. The more diversity in the membership, the better the benchmarking.
Dr. Lea Sophie Vink, Head of Human Performance Management at Austrocontrol
“Ultimately, benchmarking is one of the keys to unlocking new insights in safety management and enhancing maturity,” says Vink. “By making safety culture comparisons across organisations, we shift from isolated improvements to industry-wide advancements, ensuring that all ANSPs benefit from collective learning and continuous safety evolution.
“As benchmarking matures, it will become an even more powerful mechanism for driving continuous safety culture evolution, helping ANSPs proactively address emerging risks rather than responding to incidents after they occur.”
As benchmarking matures, it will become an even more powerful mechanism...
Efforts will also be made to improve the existing safety benchmarking framework. Increased automation and AI-driven analytics will extract deeper insights from safety culture data, for example. Peer-to-peer networks will also be strengthened to facilitate direct exchange of best practice and in 2026 workshops are planned where a menu of safety culture improvements will be made available.
Several areas could potentially benefit from the approach taken by the CANSO HPM Workgroup. Data-driven benchmarking and standardisation would help develop more effective risk mitigation strategies in fatigue risk management, for example.
Meanwhile, using artificial intelligence (AI)-based benchmarking to analyse cognitive workload and error likelihood in operational settings could help human performance. And benchmarking safety outcomes in environments with varying levels of automation might allow ANSPs to better understand human-machine interaction.
An interesting area is cybersecurity. Applying safety culture benchmarking principles could assist organisations in measuring and improving cybersecurity awareness among operational staff.
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