Aviation Safety Management Systems
About Us
U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Aviation Safety Management Systems Division provides systems engineering and analysis, operations research, and associated IT expertise to enhance aviation operational safety. We provide technical and risk analysis expertise on aviation and aerospace safety issues.
Our team of IT specialists, engineers, computer scientists, and operations research analysts designs and develops aviation safety business processes, decision tools, and knowledge management systems. A large portion of our work is focused on designing, developing, and maintaining information systems used by FAA aviation safety inspectors.
Our Capabilities
Safety and Security Assessments
- Develop safety and surveillance information management systems
- Leverage the principles of safety management systems (SMS) in all our work: taking an organizational view of safety
- Conduct safety studies, develop prototypes, and support rulemaking to improve the safety of aviation systems
- Evaluate the continued effectiveness of implemented risk control strategies, and support identification of new hazards
Human Factors Research and Design
- Provide human factors safety analysis and decision support to ensure management commitment to safety improvement
- Assist in the effective use of resources, identification of trends, and risk management
- Analyze and manage safety standards, policies, and directives
- Identify alternatives, impacts, and risks of existing business processes, standards, and policies with a goal to enhance safety
- Ensure safety promotion is in place, such as training and communication, to create a positive safety culture at all levels of the workforce
Systems and Infrastructure Modernization and Optimization
- Integrate and align technology to support aviation safety
- Deploy systems that align business and organizational goals with systems safety
- Address safety risk from a management systems standpoint to avoid catastrophic results
- Incorporate business process re-engineering, requirements definitions, lifecycle cost analysis, and benefits analysis
Applied Data Science
- Integrate data visualization with data exploration and data analysis, coupled with deep expertise in aviation safety management
- Apply SMS approach to statistical modeling, predictive analytics, and risk models
- Leverage data-driven decision-support tools to help ensure availability of enterprise data
Meet Our Team
View selected staff biographies.
Anne Gates
Chief
Anne Gates is acting director of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center's Safety Management and Human Factors Technical Center and chief of the Aviation Safety Management Systems Division. Gates has been with the U.S. DOT Volpe Center since 2010, with a focus in system engineering, safety analysis, analysis of new technologies, safety risk management, aviation surveillance data mining, and the development of models and methods.