The ICAO Safety Management Manual, Fourth Edition (Doc 9859-AN/474), was created to reflect updates from the adoption of Agreement 1 to ICAO Annex 19, which focuses on safety management. This new edition replaces the third edition published in May 2013. It aims to meet the needs of the diverse aviation community working on safety management. Additionally, it responds to recommendations from the second High-level Safety Conference in 2015. To support this effort, the Safety Management Implementation (SMI) website has been launched. You can visit it at www.icao.int/SMI. This site serves as a resource for sharing best practices, offering practical examples, tools, and educational materials that will be continually updated.
The fourth edition of Doc 9859 is designed to help States implement effective State safety programmes (SSP). This includes ensuring that service providers adopt safety management systems (SMS) according to Annex 19’s guidelines. The manual emphasizes that each organization should tailor its safety management approach to fit its unique environment rather than following overly prescriptive rules. This focus ensures that the intended outcomes of each Standard and Recommended Practice (SARP) are achieved.
The manual is structured into nine chapters, each building on the fundamental principles of safety management. These chapters are grouped into three main themes:
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Safety Management Fundamentals (Chapters 1 to 3) – These chapters introduce core principles of safety management.
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Developing Safety Intelligence (Chapters 4 to 7) – This section expands on the fundamentals, discussing how to use safety data to make informed decisions.
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Safety Management Implementation (Chapters 8 and 9) – Here, the focus shifts to applying the concepts learned to establish safety management at both the State and service provider levels.
It’s important to note that this manual does not cover sector-specific safety management SARPs that are outside of Annex 19.
In this edition, two key terms are defined:
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Organisation refers to both States and service providers.
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Service Provider indicates an aviation industry organization that implements SMS, either voluntarily or as required. This differs from Annex 19, where the term specifically applies to a select group of organizations listed in Chapter 3, excluding international general aviation operators.
For further details, refer to ICAO Doc 9859: Safety Management Manual, Fourth Edition, 2018.
