The systemic origins of many accidents have led to heightened interest
in the way in which organizations identify and manage risks within the
airline industry, and to the development of safety management system
(SMS). The purpose of this study is to probe into the evolution of proactive safety within airline SMS, uncover the critical organizational factors that influences proactive safety, and provide a practical application and validation of proactive safety approach for the airline industry. With a Taiwanese carrier’ cooperation, a safety perception survey was developed to assess the cultural and organizational factors as they relate to pilots at the carrier. The result of survey showed a response rate of 72 percent (651/908),and a principal component of factor analysis (PCA) followed by varimax rotation was performed on the questionnaire to interpreting the results. It identifies a framework for understanding the factors that underlie proactive safety mechanism within the airline safety management system. Moreover,specific factors reveal areas requiring organizational attention for managerial improvement. These target issues include areas of vulnerability perceived by the pilots, like cost/stress etc. Future efforts in this area will
allow researchers to proactively pinpoint specific latent organizational
factors in need of improvement for overall safety.