A Portal for service providers and operators in the aviation industry to report incidents and accidents to enable safety data sharing and exchange among all stakeholders has been established.
Technically known as the State Safety Reporting System (SSRS), it was established by the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Preventive Bureau (AIB-Ghana) in collaboration with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to further enable effective analysis on reported occurrences to meet trends and address emerging hazards.
Acting Commissioner of AIB-Ghana, Akwasi Agyeibi Prempeh, said, the safety reporting portal would ensure a more expedient mode of communicating and accessing information.
He was speaking at the maiden Aviation Accident Prevention and Airline Performance Optimisation Conference in Accra yesterday.
The Conference was to showcase the latest technology in the global aviation safety, airlines operational integrity and how it could impact Ghana’s aviation industry.
It was organised by the AIB-Ghana in partnership with global aviation technology developers, Star Navigation Group Limited and Flight Path International.
Mr Prempeh said it was time to revolutionise the traditional investigation and prevention techniques to a more modern technological approach that alters the practice of aircraft safety from a reactive exercise to proactive one.
Such a move, he noted, would allow aircraft investigation agencies to be more efficient and accurate in finding the contributing and causal factors to aircraft mishap.
Since its establishment, he stated that, the Bureau had investigated four aircraft accidents and other incidents that occurred in the country.
Mr Prempeh noted that embracing emerging aviation technologies was critical in meeting best international practices and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard and recommended practices and enforces Ghana’s aviation safety position.
He said when aviation operators use sophisticated technologies, it would enhance safety in aviation and impact positively on the tourism and trade sectors.
The Deputy Director-General of GCAA, Daniel Acquah noted that safety was the topmost priority in aviation, hence the need for all operators to remain accustomed to it as a guiding principle in the conduct of their business.
He said currently, the aviation sector was projected to grow steadily in a diversified manner due to new technologies, new operations, among others.
The GCAA, he noted, had developed Technical Directive for the operation of drones and associated guidance materials to ensure a safe, harmonised and sustainable operations.
In support of safety initiatives by the ICAO, Ghana, Mr Acquah said, had established the State Safety Programme (SSP) to integrate and harmonise aviation safety activities in the country and support the implementation of the Safety Management Systems (SMS) by the industry, including commercial drone operators.
He explained that the SSP recognised the importance of aviation stakeholders to work in a collaborative and coordinated manner to identify safety hazards and ensure the adoption of best practices and suitable technologies to address safety risks within their operations.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
