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Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program

Background

In 1992 the 29th Session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly adopted a resolution to establish a safety oversight program. The program was established in an effort to address concerns that some of ICAO's Contracting States were not carrying out their oversight functions.

The first stage of the program, launched in 1996, was voluntary. Its initial success led the 31st Session of the ICAO Assembly (October 1998) to endorse an enhanced program and provide the necessary funding. The Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) commenced on 1 January 1999, replacing the voluntary program.

The basis of the ICAO audit was the degree to which the States complied with safety related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and associated procedures laid down in three of the eighteen Annexes to the Chicago Convention: Annex 1 (Personnel Licensing), Annex 6 (Operation of Aircraft) and Annex 8 (Airworthiness of Aircraft). It was envisaged that ICAO would audit other annexes in future programs.

Australia's first audit under this system took place on 9-20 August 1999.

During 2004, at the request of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, ICAO conducted an audit of Australia's aviation accident and incident safety investigation framework to ensure that Australia met international best practice standards for aviation accident and incident safety investigation.

The 35th Session of the ICAO Assembly considered the proposal of the Council for the continuation and expansion of USOAP as of 2005, and resolved that USOAP be expanded to cover the safety-related provisions in all safety-related Annexes (all Annexes with the exception of Annex 9 Facilitation and Annex 17 Security) and also to implement a comprehensive systems approach for the conduct of safety oversight audits.

The conduct of audits under the comprehensive systems approach was launched on 1 January 2005. The new approach consists of three phases:

Pre-audit phase. During this phase, the information provided by the State in the State Aviation Activity Questionnaire (SAAQ) and Compliance Checklists (CCs) is reviewed by SOA to analyse the type of organization for safety oversight established by the State, the implementation of Annexes provisions and the differences from SARPs identified by the States. This allows ICAO to tailor the audit in accordance with the level and complexity of aviation activities in the State and determine the duration of the audit and the size and required composition of the audit team.
On-site phase. During this phase, the State is visited by an ICAO audit team to validate the information provided by the State and conduct an on-site audit of the States system and overall capability for safety oversight. This includes an audit of the organization, processes, procedures and programmes established and maintained by the State to help it fulfill its safety oversight obligations.
Post-audit phase. This phase encompasses all the activities following the on-site audit, including the preparation of the audit interim report, the development by the State of its corrective action plan and the completion of the audit final report. In accordance with Assembly Resolution A35-6, the audit final reports are made available to Contracting States in their entirety through a secure website, along with information derived from the AFDD.

For further information on ICAO's USOAP program, please click here

Comprehensive Systems Approach - Australia's Audit 2008

The ICAO assessment of Australia's safety oversight system took place between 8 28 February 2008.

The results of the 2008 audit, including Australias Corrective Action Plan, are available at the ICAO website by clicking here

Results of Australia's previous audits are available on this website:

For the 1999 USOAP audit report please click here
For the 1999 USOAP audit Corrective Action Plan please click here
For the ATSB 2004 review please click here