Australian Flying — November-December 2017

improvements in the last 12

months, while acknowledging

there is still a lot more work

ahead. There have been tangible

results for our clients and other

stakeholders, but we accept people

are still hungry for even more

improvement.

Of course, it is unlikely we will

ever reach a point where the whole

aviation community says: “CASA

you’re perfect!”. What we do need

to achieve is a position of respect

and trust, where people accept

that CASA is striving to get the

best possible safety and regulatory

outcomes, while working co-

operatively with the aviation

community. At the same time we

must deliver services to our clients

efficiently and effectively.

If anyone doubts there have

been improvements at CASA I

would ask people to think back

to how long it was taking CASA

to process an average medical

certificate application. A year or

so ago there were often lengthy

and frustrating delays. By the

second half of 2017, medical

certificates were being processed

on average in 7.5 days. The

processing for class one medicals

was even slightly quicker at 6.5

days. More than 93 per cent of

medicals are processed within the

CASA service delivery timeframe.

The CASA Flight Operations

and Licensing team is completing

more than 99 per cent of jobs

within an average of less than

two days.

Our challenge, which we accept

and embrace, is to consistently

provide regulatory services

effectively and efficiently month

by month, year by year, so the

aviation community can have

confidence in CASA’s ability to

deliver. To achieve this we are

working on a range of digital and

other improvements focussed on

getting the best outcomes for our

clients. We are committed to

making the process of obtaining

aviation regulatory services from

CASA as smooth and as painless

as we possibly can.

Underpinning our work to

improve performance right

across CASA is our regulatory

philosophy. The ten principles

in this document are not just a

set of words that sit on a shelf or

in a corner of our web site. It is a

code which lays out how we will

behave, reach decisions and take

action. We have made it clear

the regulatory philosophy applies

to everyone in CASA, not just

our inspectors and other “front-

line” staff. It establishes what is

expected of someone who works

for CASA, as well as what we

should expect of ourselves.

A lot of effort has been put

into educating our staff about the

regulatory philosophy and this

work continues. The goal is for

the principles of the regulatory

philosophy to be the default

position for all CASA staff – how

we automatically think and feel

about the way we do our jobs.

While it is still relatively

early days, I am very pleased

that CASA staff are telling me

they are approaching their work

differently and people from

across the aviation community

are commenting that they

can see a difference in their

dealings with us. One CASA

staff member recently said the

regulatory philosophy made it

clear “how important it is to treat

industry with respect and respond

to their queries quickly and

professionally”.

Respect, timeliness and

professionalism must be at the

heart of everything CASA does.

77

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australianflying.com.au

November – December 2017 AUSTRALIAN FLYING

Safety Matters^77

Moving

the

Needle

Carmody believes CASA is moving

the needle on industry service.

CASA CEO and

Director of Aviation

Safety Shane Carmody

is seeing change in

the organisation,

but says there is still

much work ahead.

australianflying.com.au

While it is still relatively

early days, I am very pleased

that CASA staff are telling me

they are approaching their

work differently...

Safety Matters CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY australianflying.com.au^77

hanging the way

an organisation

works and

behaves is not

something

that happens

overnight. In

fact, depending

on the depth

and complexity of the change

being implemented, it can take

years. Policies and procedures

can be rewritten relatively quickly,

but modifying the way people

think and act takes time as change

literally seeps across and through

an organisation.

Yet for the people who have

dealings with an organisation

which is undertaking change, and

who are affected by the outcomes

of change, the appetite for waiting

for promised improvements is

naturally small. In this day and

age in particular we all have an

expectation that things will happen

quickly and we will get the results

we want, when we want them.

None of this is an excuse

for avoiding the challenges of

tackling organisational change

or for tardiness in achieving

tangible results. If an organisation

promises to change to improve the

outcomes it delivers for clients and

other stakeholders then it is duty

bound to do everything humanly

possible to get the right results.

Anything less is a breach of trust.

I believe all these points are

all very relevant to where CASA

is today. We have achieved a

lot in making vital changes and