Don't Snooze Your Safety Audits: Keeping Your Internal Evaluation Program (IEP) on Track

We’ve all been there: you check your calendar, and suddenly it’s time once again to perform that audit for your Internal Evaluation Program (IEP). Perhaps you are juggling multiple functions and projects, and the thought process begins: "I am just going to snooze this for a day or two," until that initial delay stretches into a week, a month, or more.

It might seem innocent to put off IEP audits at first, but when you realize you have fallen way behind, the stress level spikes. This delay often results in the tendency to hurry through the audits or, in a worst-case scenario, neglect them altogether. This approach has negative consequences, both regulatory and operational. When you neglect your IEP audits, you are failing to meet a key Safety Management System (SMS) requirement. 14 CFR 5.71 mandates that any person required to have an SMS must develop and maintain processes and systems to acquire data and monitor the organization's safety performance. Neglecting these regularly scheduled audits means you may be preventing the detection of negative safety performance issues that the IEP was designed to uncover.

Understanding the Importance

Your IEP is a foundational element that falls under the Safety Assurance portion of your SMS. The FAA, as detailed in AC 120-59B, describes the IEP as a high-level program designed to maintain and refine the management system. The core idea is that the IEP acts as an important safety assurance tool by continually monitoring the effectiveness and efficiency of processes and systems. Ultimately, the program ensures your management systems and key processes are meeting both internal quality standards and external regulatory standards.

Making the IEP Manageable

So, how do you prevent falling behind and keep your organization’s stress levels down? Just like a good SMS, your IEP needs to be scaled for your operations and staffing levels. The solution lies in breaking the program down into manageable pieces. For example, this might mean scheduling more frequent audits but ensuring each audit contains fewer questions.

It is also considered a best practice to spread the audits across the staff. When possible, you should avoid having individuals audit their own areas of operation. Finally, to ensure the IEP never slips off the organizational radar, always include a report on your IEP audit progress at each regularly scheduled safety meeting. This consistent visibility will hopefully prevent your team from falling behind on the schedule.

Your Internal Evaluation Program is more than just a regulatory checklist; it is a vital safety assurance tool necessary for maintaining and refining your management system. By consistently scaling the audit process to your staff's capacity, breaking the work into smaller, more frequent segments, and keeping progress visible during safety meetings, you can mitigate the risk of stress and regulatory non-compliance. Don't let that snooze button compromise your safety performance—make the commitment to keep your IEP active and performing as the essential safety monitoring system it was intended to be.

At Baldwin Safety & Compliance, we know that keeping up with your Internal Evaluation Program can be a challenge. That’s why we offer monthly IEP checklists - free of charge -to help you stay organized and on track. Each checklist highlights focus areas and reminders to support a consistent, effective evaluation process.