Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA)
Liberty University
AVIA 409 - Safety Management Systems
Professor: Andrew Walton
2022
Description
Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) is seen as an important way to help develop countermeasures
to operational errors. It involves a structured programme of observation of front line activities built
around the Threat and Error Management (TEM) concept. It aims to identify threats to operational
safety, identify and minimise the risks which are the origin of such threats and implement measures to
manage the human error aspects of the residual risk. LOSA provides a way to assess the level of
organisational resilience to systemic threats in accordance with the principles of a data-driven approach.
LOSA uses trained observers to collect data about pilot behaviour and its situational context on
“normal” flights from supernumerary seats on the flight deck. Such monitoring allows the capture of
data which can characterise pilot strategies for managing "threats, errors and undesirable states". The
audits are conducted under strict no-jeopardy conditions; therefore, flight crews are not held
accountable for their actions and errors that are observed. During flights that are being audited,
observers record and code:
potential threats to safety;
how the threats are addressed;
the errors such threats generate;
how flight crews manage these errors;
specific behaviours that have been known to be associated with accidents and incidents.
The LOSA method is seen as closely linked with Crew Resource Management (CRM) training. A
particular strength of LOSA is perceived as the way it identifies examples of "superior" pilot performance
that can be provide models for use in training.
The initial research and project definition was a joint endeavour between The University of Texas at
Austin and Continental Airlines, with funding provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In
1999, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) endorsed LOSA as the primary tool to develop
countermeasures to human error in aviation operations and made LOSA the central focus of its Flight
Safety and Human Factors Programme for the period 2000 to 2004. The number of operators joining
LOSA grew in the period following March 2001 to include some major international operators from
different parts of the world and diverse cultures but a reliable picture of the extent of continued use is
not known.
