WEEKLY UPDATE FROM FAA ATO COO TERI BRISTOL
Continuous Top 5
For the last six years we have identified and addressed a list of five high - priority safet y
issues for the ATO. The Top 5 is backed by safety data and compels us to work across
organizations to mitigate these issues.
This list is the culmination of our proactive safety management – Collect. Find. Fix.
Monitor. But over the years we have learne d that some fixes take much longer than a
year; and in some cases, the mitigations we've implemented didn't completely fix the
safety issue.
So, in FY18, we are moving to a continuous Top 5. That means issues will not be
replaced yearly, but rather will s tay on the list until mitigation plans are fully in place and
performance targets are met. This will make the Top 5 more effective in addressing our
highest - priority safety issues, and focus important resources across the ATO.
A collaborative Top 5 Steeri ng Committee selected the first list, with representatives
from Safety and Technical Training, Air Traffic Services, Technical Operations, System
Operations, Mission Support, Program Management Organization , and the unions.
Many of these items are not new ; we've brought back former issues from 2012, 2013,
2015, and 2017. And we added a new issue – Operational Risk Management (ORM)
that will address Technical Operations' coordination with stakeholders to reduce the risk
of operational impacts to service. More information on the continuous Top 5 is available
here and here .
The first list of Top 5 under the new program are:
• Traffic Advisories / Safety Alerts: the issuance of traffic advisories and safety
alerts by controllers
• Altitude Compliance: aircraft operating at unexpected or unintended altitude
• Wrong Surface Landings: ai rcraft landing on the wrong runway or on a taxiway
• Pilot Report (PIREP) Solicitation/Dissemination: pilot report solicitation and
dissemination by controllers
• Operational Risk Management (Coordination): coordinating with stakeholders
across the NAS to mana ge risk and anticipate future service interruptions.
This month we started the mitigation process for the Top 5 by developing Corrective
Action Plans (CAPs) and monitoring plans. These CAPs provide us with a strategy and
outline spec ific activities to red uce risk. We will monitor these corrective actions, and
ensure we execute 80 percent of the activities associated with the mitigation of our Top
5. Anything that we don't accomplish will be rolled over into the next fiscal year, when
we'll set new targets to measure.
Once mitigations are in place and performance targets are met, the issue will be closed
and new item will be selected.
