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Safety Management Systems Maturity Assessment Tool

The CAA has developed a new Safety Management Systems (SMS) Maturity Assessment Tool as guidance for organisations looking to improve their SMS. It’s a practical, self-assessment resource to help your organisation understand what good safety performance looks like.

Safety Management Systems Maturity Assessment Tool [DOCX 574 KB]

Purpose of the tool

The tools’ purpose is to provide useful guidance when you self-assess and measure your safety system. It’s designed to help you improve your safety outcomes, and since it’s only guidance, there’s no requirement to submit it to the CAA.

The resource isn’t intended for an organisations’ initial implementation of SMS — that’s what the original SMS evaluation tool [DOC 717 KB] is for.

As your safety systems have matured, so has the guidance. This new tool is designed to be used interactively, by talking with people across your organisation and observing how things work in practice. That’s where the new tool can help, it:

  • provides clearer expectations and guidance on what an ‘Operating’ and ‘Effective’ SMS really means
  • helps explain what good safety performance looks like
  • helps organisations have an organised and efficient approach to safety
  • focuses on how well your systems work—not just whether they exist
  • was developed with input from the aviation industry to make sure it’s practical and relevant.

How to use the tool

The first pages introduce why the tool exists and how it’s meant to be used.

It’s designed in an easy-to-edit Word format that you can customise it to suit your needs. You can expand table sections and use the right-hand column for your own notes, evidence, or assessment results.

The tool provides a picture of what good safety performance might look like for your organisation, so you can be guided on what to aim for. It’s also helpful for:

  • Self-assessments.
    Fill in how you're doing now, add notes, and keep track of progress.
  • Reviewing others.
    Use the document to assess third parties.
  • Sharing a snapshot.
    Take it to management meetings to show what's working and what needs attention.
  • Setting clear goals.
    Use the word pictures as key performance indicators (KPIs) that your team can measure.

Questions and answers

The CAA ran nationwide trials using a similar approach to other regulators, with eight different aviation organisations working closely with the CAA. Their feedback helped us build a clear, collaborative tool tailored to our New Zealand aviation context.

The CAA will continue to communicate with industry about the tool and facilitate networking days for Safety Managers across the country to gather feedback.

No. Unlike the earlier SMS evaluation tool, this new version is not mandatory. Organisations are not required to submit it to the CAA before renewal or monitoring activities. However, its use is still strongly encouraged. The tool is designed to help improve the safety management system and gain clearer insights into safety performance. While participation is optional, those who use it are likely to benefit from a more structured and effective approach to safety.

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