“Safety first” is a key principle in air transport, notably in ATM where operations and systems are often safety-critical, i.e. their failure or malfunction may jeopardize human lives, equipment or environment. To be implemented, they have to demonstrate that they are acceptably safe, through the development of a safety case providing tangible evidence. The safety case is therefore a mandatory step in the validation of an ATM concept.

A safety case is “a means of grouping validation results about safety, such that it supports all stakeholders and decision makers as they consider investment and implementation options. The development of such a safety case aims to provide them with timely information as evidence concerning the potential of a concept to meet defined safety goals” (E-OCVM).

ADV participates in the preparation of safety cases, bringing

• Their knowledge of the regulatory context applicable for safety, e.g. ESARRs (EUROCONTROL Safety Regulatory Requirements)
• Their knowledge of the methods and tools required to demonstrate the compliance of the concept with the safety requirements, such as SAM (EUROCONTROL Safety Assessment Methodology): for instance, ADV contributes to the functional hazards assessment through the definition of operational scenarios allowing the identification of safety risks.