How to Assign Safety Duties and Responsibilities Clearly?
Safety Management Systems (SMS) rely on clear human and organisational arrangements to function effectively. There are safety duties and responsibilities for everyone. A common source of confusion in aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) is the difference between “duties” and “responsibilities.”
Both terms appear in regulations and company documents, but they carry distinct meanings that affect compliance, accountability and everyday safety work. This article explains the difference in plain language, links the ideas to international guidance such as ICAO Annex 19 and the ICAO Safety Management Manual (Doc 9859), and offers practical steps to ensure your organisation assigns and documents duties and responsibilities correctly. The goal is to help managers, safety officers and regulators avoid overlap, gaps and misunderstandings that can weaken safety performance.
What duties and responsibilities mean in Safety Management Systems (SMS) ?
In an SMS context, a duty is a task or set of tasks someone is expected to perform. Duties are operational and often appear in procedures, checklists and job descriptions. Examples include conducting safety reports reviews, performing risk assessments, or carrying out hazard investigations. Duties describe what must be done and how it should be done.
Responsibilities refer to accountability and authority. A responsible person holds ownership of an outcome and has the authority to ensure duties are performed. Responsibility includes being answerable for results and ensuring adequate resources, competence and follow-through. For example, a Safety Manager may be responsible for the effectiveness of the safety reporting process, while multiple staff members have duties to submit and act on reports.
Understanding the distinction is important because one person can have duties without being ultimately responsible, and one person can be responsible while delegating duties. International guidance supports this structure: ICAO Annex 19 and the ICAO Safety Management Manual (Doc 9859) emphasis clear assignment of safety responsibilities and the need for organisational accountability as part of safety oversight and compliance.
How to implement clear assignments in your Safety Management Systems (SMS) ?
Start by documenting both duties and responsibilities separately. Job descriptions and procedures should list specific duties with clear instructions, inputs, outputs and interfaces. Parallel to that, your Safety Management Systems (SMS) manual and organisational charts should show lines of responsibility, indicating who is accountable for safety outcomes at each level of the organisation. Use defined terms consistently across documents so everyone understands whether a reference is to a duty or to a responsibility.
Make authority explicit. Responsibility without authority is ineffective. Where a manager is responsible for a safety function, record the decision rights and resource control that come with that responsibility. Ensure competence and training align with both duties and responsibilities: a person may be trained to carry out a duty, but the responsible manager must be competent to make judgement calls and allocate resources when needed.
Establish clear handovers and interfaces between departments. Many Safety Management Systems (SMS) failures occur at boundaries because duties were handed off without clear responsibility for follow-up. Use simple process maps that show who performs each duty and who accepts responsibility for the outcome. Where regulation requires account holders (for example, accountable managers under national or regional rules), ensure these titles and their responsibilities are visible in your Safety Management Systems (SMS) documentation to meet ICAO and regional expectations such as those of EASA or the FAA.
Performance should be monitored and its effectiveness ensured. Safety assurance activities should check that duties are being carried out and that persons with responsibilities are exercising control effectively. Audits, safety performance indicators and management reviews should focus on outcomes as well as task completion. When gaps appear, adjust duties, reassign responsibility or provide more authority and resources as needed.
Legal and operational implications
Regulators expect organisations to know who is responsible and to be able to show that duties are assigned and performed. ICAO Annex 19 requires States and service providers to establish Safety Management Systems (SMS) with defined responsibilities. Regional regulations often require an accountable manager and named safety personnel. Failure to document and maintain those lines can result in non-compliance findings, corrective action requests, or worse, ineffective safety risk controls that lead to incidents.
From an operational view, mixing up duties and responsibilities can slow decisions and create blame cycles. Clear assignment improves response time in safety events, supports effective root-cause analysis, and strengthens safety culture by making expectations obvious. Use practical tools such as role matrices, process maps and single-page responsibility statements to keep assignments clear and easy to consult during normal operations and emergencies.
For more detailed templates and guidance aligned with ICAO guidance material, consult recognised resources or your authority’s SMS guidance.
| Aspect | Duties | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Core meaning | Tasks or actions that must be carried out | Ownership and accountability for outcomes |
| Focus | What is done and how it is done | Who is answerable and who ensures it is done |
| Nature | Operational | Managerial and organisational |
| Typical location in SMS | Procedures, checklists, work instructions, job descriptions | SMS Manual, organisational charts, management accountability statements |
| Authority required | Usually limited or none | Must include authority to allocate resources and make decisions |
| Delegation | Can be delegated freely | Can be delegated only with retained accountability |
| Measurement | Task completion (e.g. report submitted, assessment completed) | Effectiveness of outcomes (e.g. reporting system works, risks controlled) |
| Who usually holds it | Front-line staff, analysts, inspectors, safety officers | Accountable Manager, Safety Manager, senior management |
| Risk if unclear | Tasks may be done incorrectly or inconsistently | Decisions delayed, gaps in control, regulatory non-compliance |
| ICAO alignment | Supports implementation of SMS processes | Required by ICAO Annex 19 for accountability and oversight |
Conclusion
Clarity between duties and responsibilities makes Safety Management Systems (SMS) practical and auditable. Define duties in procedures and job descriptions, and define responsibilities as ownership with authority and accountability. Align training, resources and assurance to those definitions so duties are completed and responsible parties can ensure outcomes. Clear records and visible lines of accountability will support compliance with ICAO Annex 19 and regional requirements while improving operational safety.
Ensure every safety-critical process names both who performs the tasks and who owns the results. Keep responsibility and authority together, and use simple visual tools to make accountability easy to see and maintain.
Your Safety Management process will be effortlessly managed with SAFEJETS MS.