Improving safety through Collaborative Analysis Groups (CAGs)

We’ve partnered with the aviation industry to improve aviation safety in Canada.

The Collaborative Analysis Group’s goal is to identify, prioritize and monitor safety risks in civil aviation. This will support government decision-making and help manage key safety concerns. The group is a joint effort with industry partners to proactively manage risks in the aviation sector. We will improve safety by considering regulator actions as well as safety enhancements adopted voluntarily by the industry.

On this page

Purpose

The aviation system is becoming more complex as the demand for air travel increases. Our group offers a dynamic platform that brings government and industry partners together to strengthen safety in the aviation system.

We will do this through:

  • Engaging stakeholders - making sure government actions and industry align for a more synchronized approach.
  • Making informed decisions - using insights, facts and intelligence from different areas to help find emerging issues and make well-informed decisions to address them through regulatory and non-regulatory safety measures.
  • Sharing knowledge and experience - adding safety and security benefits by making better informed decisions through sharing of knowledge to advance strategic safety risk management.

Background

Every member country of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) must have a State Safety Program (SSP) to manage safety in their aviation system. ICAO Annex 19 – Safety Management helps States create effective management processes for a safe aviation system.

The goal is to create a program that can address current safety risks and anticipate future concerns. The State Safety Program follows 4 main principles:

  1. State safety policy
  2. State safety risk management
  3. State safety quality assurance
  4. State safety promotion

Canada’s Collaborative Analysis Group is an essential part of the Safety Risk Management Component. It identifies, analyzes, and manages safety hazards in a structured way.

Engagement

Continuous engagement and collaboration between Industry and government are critical to sustain and strengthen aviation safety in Canada. Sharing best practices and lessons learned will improve aviation safety by setting safety improvement goals and making sure decision-making is transparent.

Privacy of safety data

For Collaborative Analysis Groups to work, they must create guidelines and procedures for sharing safety data. This means having clear rules for using and protecting safety data, safety information, and their sources. For this to happen, it's essential to build a non-punitive safety culture and to protect voluntarily shared safety data. This ensures that the data is used only to improve safety.

The full benefits from the Collaborative Analysis Group concept and the sharing of industry safety data can only be achieved once necessary changes are made to the Aeronautics Act to protect voluntarily shared safety information from punitive action and public disclosure.

Implementation

Implementing a Collaborative Analysis Group is a gradual process. It will continue to grow as the government and industry keep working together to:

  • Establish an environment to share aviation safety intelligence, data analysis and mitigations
  • Establish a healthy, robust, and positive safety culture
  • Continuously improve aviation safety;
  • Share best practices

Related links