Faculty of Social Sciences

Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management

Short Courses

Aviation Risk Management

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Operational Excellence from Airside to Landside

In aviation, risk rarely announces itself clearly. It often appears as a recurring delay, an equipment defect, a staffing gap, a workaround that has become normal, a contractor issue, a weather threat, or a combination of small failures that begin to weaken the operation. The challenge for aviation professionals is not simply identifying hazards. It is knowing which risks matter most, what controls are actually effective, when conditions are changing, and when an issue has reached the point where it must be escalated or operations adjusted.

Aviation Risk Management is designed for professionals who are responsible for making those calls. The programme develops the practical skills required to assess operational risk, test the strength of existing controls, investigate occurrences, manage change, use safety data more effectively and support sound risk-based decisions across aviation operations. Participants will work through scenarios drawn from airport, airline, ground handling and wider aviation environments, including equipment failure, ramp and airside risk, contractor performance, staffing pressure, severe weather, operational disruption, cyber-related exposure and degraded operating conditions.

For Caribbean aviation organisations, the programme also recognises an important reality: risk is often managed in environments with limited redundancy, small specialist teams, heavy reliance on external suppliers, constrained infrastructure and significant exposure to weather and regional disruption. The programme therefore focuses not only on compliance, but on how to make practical, defensible decisions within those operating realities. The emphasis throughout is on what to do with the risk once it is identified—how to assess it, control it, monitor it, communicate it and know when the organisation needs to act differently.

Programme Objectives

You will emerge from this programme better able to:

  •  Identify aviation hazards across operational activities and interfaces.
  •  Assess aviation risks using structured likelihood and severity criteria.
  •  Prioritise risks using operational, safety and exposure data.
  •  Design practical controls for identified aviation risks.
  •  Evaluate the effectiveness of existing risk controls.
  •  Investigate operational occurrences to identify contributing risk factors.
  •  Monitor aviation risk using safety performance indicators and emerging data.
  •  Recommend risk treatment and escalation actions to operational leadership.

At a Glance

Course Duration:

June 15 – July 8, 2027

Times:

Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:30pm – 8:30pm AST

Certificate Awarded:

Professional Development Certificate of Competence

Cost:

US $850.00

Registration Deadline:

June 8, 2027

Modality:

Online

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Additional Information

Programme Curriculum

Aviation Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

  •  Hazards Across Airport, Airline and Ground Operations
  •  Airside, Ramp, Turnaround and Aircraft Interface Risks
  •  Likelihood, Severity and Risk Tolerability
  •  Initial and Residual Risk
  •  Aviation Risk Registers, Escalation and Acceptance
  •  Applying ICAO Annex 19 and ICAO Doc 9859

Operational Risk Controls and Safety Assurance

  •  Controls Across Flight, Ground, Maintenance and Airport Operations
  •  Human, Technical and Procedural Defences
  •  Control Effectiveness and Residual Exposure
  •  Safety Audits, Inspections and Operational Assurance
  •  Corrective Action and Closure
  •  Applying IOSA, ISAGO, IGOM and AHM Requirements

Aviation Occurrence Investigation and Operational Learning

  •  Aircraft Damage, Ramp Events and Ground Handling Occurrences
  •  Runway, Taxiway and Airside Events
  •  Operational Deviations and Near Misses
  •  Human and Organisational Factors
  •  Procedural Drift and Repeated Events
  •  Contributing and Systemic Factors
  •  Corrective Actions that Reduce Recurrence

· Managing Change in Aviation Operations

  •  Aircraft, Fleet and Schedule Changes
  •  New Routes and Changes in Operating Environment
  •  Airport Infrastructure and Construction
  •  Ground Handler and Contractor Changes
  •  New Equipment, GSE and Operational Technology
  •  Staffing, Competence and Organisational Change
  •  Cyber and Digital System Dependencies
  •  Management-of-Change Risk Reviews

· Safety Intelligence and Aviation Risk Performance

  •  Hazard, Incident and Occurrence Data
  •  Flight, Ground and Airport Safety Indicators
  •  Leading and Lagging Safety Performance Indicators
  •  Trends, Recurrence and Exposure
  •  Station, Contractor and Operational Hotspots
  •  Audit and Inspection Findings
  •  Analysing an Aviation Risk Dashboard
  •  Applying ICAO Safety Intelligence Principles

· High-Risk Aviation Interfaces

  •  Aircraft Turnaround and Ground Handling Risk
  •  Load Control, Baggage and Cargo Risk
  •  Ground Support Equipment and Aircraft Damage
  •  Contractor and Third-Party Oversight
  •  Flight Dispatch and Operational Control Interfaces
  •  Maintenance and Technical Dependencies
  •  Dangerous Goods and Cargo Interfaces
  •  Aviation Security and Safety Interdependencies

· Disruption, Emergency Risk and Operational Resilience

  •  Severe Weather and Hurricane Operations
  •  Degraded Airport and Airline Operations
  •  Equipment, Communications and System Failure
  •  Emergency Response and Operational Continuity
  •  Reduced Staffing and Specialist Resource Constraints
  •  Diversions, Closures and Recovery Operations
  •  Decision-Making Under Time and Commercial Pressure
  •  Continue, Restrict, Suspend or Recover Decisions

Aviation Risk Governance and Caribbean Operations

  •  SMS Responsibilities and Accountabilities
  •  Risk Escalation to Senior Leadership
  •  Regulator, Operator and Service-Provider Interfaces
  •  Outsourced Operations and Shared Risk
  •  Limited Redundancy in Small Aviation Systems
  •  Regional Safety Oversight and Harmonisation
  •  ICAO Global and Regional Safety Priorities
  •  Turning Risk Intelligence into Management Decisions

How You Will Learn

Every session is built around operational decisions. You will:

  •  Analyse aviation incidents, hazards and near misses.
  •  Complete live risk assessments.
  •  Challenge weak controls and develop stronger mitigations.
  •  Work through airport, airline and ground-handling scenarios.
  •  Review operational data and safety indicators.
  •  Make risk escalation and go/no-go decisions.
  •  Apply the tools directly to aviation risks within your own organisation.

Assessment

Aviation Operational Risk Review – Participants will complete an Aviation Operational Risk Review based on a real or realistic aviation activity, identifying key hazards, assessing the risks, evaluating current controls and recommending practical treatment and escalation actions. The final output will be a concise risk register and/or management briefing suitable for operational or safety leadership.

 

Benefits for You and Your Organisation

Participants return to their organisations better able to:

  •  Recognise operational risk before it becomes an incident.
  •  Conduct risk assessments that support real operational decisions.
  •  Distinguish effective controls from procedural “tick-boxes.”
  •  Make stronger go/no-go and escalation decisions.
  •  Use occurrence, audit and operational data to identify deteriorating risk.
  •  Strengthen contractor and third-party risk oversight.
  •  Improve the quality of safety reporting and corrective action.
  •  Support more resilient operations during disruption and degraded conditions.
  •  Provide leadership and regulators a clearer picture of the organisation’s actual risk exposure.

 

Alignment with Regional and Global Aviation Priorities

The programme supports current aviation safety priorities by:

  •  Applying the safety-risk-management principles of ICAO Annex 19 and ICAO Doc 9859.
  •  Strengthening the use of safety data and intelligence consistent with ICAO Doc 10159.
  •  Supporting the performance-based, data-driven direction of the ICAO 2026–2028 Global Aviation Safety Plan and RASG-PA.
  •  Reinforcing operational standardisation and risk reduction reflected in IATA IOSA/ISAGO-related industry practices and ground-operation standards.
  •  Supporting CASSOS priorities for ICAO compliance, regulatory harmonisation and aviation safety and security risk reduction across the Caribbean.
  •  Building awareness of aviation cybersecurity risk consistent with ICAO’s global aviation cybersecurity strategy, including governance, information-sharing, incident management and resilience.

Who Should Attend

This programme is designed for professionals who make, influence or support operational risk decisions, including:

  •  Airline Safety and Operations Professionals
  •  Airport Operations and Safety Managers
  •  Ground Handling Managers and Supervisors
  •  Aviation Safety and Quality Professionals
  •  Civil Aviation Authority and Regulatory Personnel
  •  Air Navigation Services Professionals
  •  Maintenance and Engineering Managers
  •  Aviation Security Professionals
  •  Emergency Management and Business Continuity Personnel
  •  Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit Professionals within aviation organisations
  •  Contractor and Service-Provider Managers
  •  Aviation Executives and Department Heads with operational accountability

All notification of cancellations, deferrals, and substitutions must be received in writing. Please submit your request via e-mail to schsbmopen@cavehill.uwi.edu

CANCELLATIONS

  • The Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management (SCHSBM) reserves the right to make changes to any printed or online information on short courses, instructors, or course information; or cancel any short course due to under-subscription or circumstances beyond its control.
  • Delegates will be notified at least seven (7) days before the start of any course that must be cancelled.
  • Fees for short courses cancelled by the SCHSBM will be refunded in full.
  • The SCHSBM will not be liable for any loss, damages or other expenses that result from course cancellations.

REFUNDS

Due to the costs incurred for program preparation and administration any cancellations received 30 days or less from the program start date are subject to fees as described below. For programs with a virtual component, the start date will be considered the first day of live learning.

Written notice of cancellation received by SCHSBM Refund
30 days or more before the start of the specific course 100% of course fees.
29 to 15 days before the start of the specific course 50% of course fees.
14 days or less before the start of the specific course No refund

Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management
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