Safety Performance Indicators and Data Collection for Airports
As airports continue implementing Safety Management Systems (SMS), one of the greatest challenges is establishing meaningful safety performance indicators and identifying the data needed to measure safety performance and assess the effectiveness of an SMS. While airports commonly measure safety using accident counts or rates, airport leaders also need proactive safety performance indicators, objective data collection methods, and approaches for monitoring safety trends. The research should also consider, where appropriate, the challenges associated with sharing safety information among airport stakeholders and how those challenges affect the use of safety performance data. The objective of this research is to develop practical guidance on the methods airports and other industries use to measure, analyze, and communicate safety performance through safety performance indicators and to assess the effectiveness of an SMS. The research will examine the types of safety data collected by airports with mature SMS programs, identify the information systems and methodologies used to support safety performance analysis, and produce guidance on collecting airport safety data, analyzing safety trends, and communicating safety performance indicators to airport leadership. The final research product should include case studies illustrating how airports have applied safety performance indicators and conducted root cause analyses to provide practical examples for airports with limited internal expertise.
- Record URL:
-
Supplemental Notes:
- Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Proposed
- Funding: $300,000.00
-
Contract Numbers:
Project 04-42
-
Sponsor Organizations:
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC United States 20591 -
Managing Organizations:
Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)
Transportation Research Board
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Project Managers:
Murthy, Krishna
- Start Date: 20260831
- Expected Completion Date: 0
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: Airport Cooperative Research Program
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Airports; Data collection; Data sharing; Performance measurement; Safety management
- Identifier Terms: Safety Management Systems
- Subject Areas: Aviation; Data and Information Technology; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 02001726
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
- Contract Numbers: Project 04-42
- Files: TRB, RIP
- Created Date: Sep 3 2026 8:28AM