ICAO 10102 PDF

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE

First and foremost, this manual provides guidance material to operators for the conduct of a risk assessment for operations that involve aeroplane cargo compartments. This is in accordance with the International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of Annex 6, Part I. It places the safety risk management (SRM) concepts espoused in ICAO’s Safety Management Manual (SMM, Doc 9859) into an operationally relevant context. Second, it provides guidance on what information related to technical specifications, capabilities, and certification requirements of pertinent aircraft systems a Type Certificate (TC) holder, Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) holder, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) should provide to the operator for it to conduct a risk assessment meeting the minimum requirements of Annex 6. The provisions and guidance are intended to be universal and flexible so that they remain applicable to goods and products that may be invented, manufactured, and presented for air transport in the future.

While the original mandate for the CSSG referred specifically to cargo operations, it became apparent as the work progressed that the provisions should seek to address all items that may be transported in an aeroplane cargo compartment. While the transport of lithium batteries as cargo had been identified as a major safety concern, it was important to ensure that safety risk assessments conducted by operators considered the risks associated with any item transported in the cargo compartment, irrespective of whether it was contained in cargo, baggage, or mail. The use of the term “items” in Annex 6 and this manual is therefore specifically intended so that operators address all the following categories in their subsequent risk assessments:

a) cargo (including COMAT/stores);

b) passenger and crew checked baggage;

c) mail; and

d) other equipment used in the transport of cargo, baggage, or mail (e.g. unit load devices).

The provisions developed are included in Annex 6, Part I, Chapter 15, Cargo compartment safety, which includes the following Standard:

“The State of the operator shall ensure that the operator establishes policies and procedures for the transport of items in the cargo compartment, which include the conduct of a specific safety risk assessment. The risk assessment shall include at least the:

a) hazards associated with the properties of the items to be transported;

b) capabilities of the operator;

c) operational considerations (e.g. area of operations, diversion time);

d) capabilities of the aeroplane and its systems (e.g. cargo compartment fire suppression capabilities);

e) containment characteristics of unit load devices;

f) packing and packaging;

g) safety of the supply chain for items to be transported; and

h) quantity and distribution of dangerous goods items to be transported.”

This manual provides guidance on how an operator may consider each of these factors in the conduct of their specific safety risk assessment. This list is not exhaustive, and operators may need to consider other factors as part of their specific safety risk assessment.

It should be noted that the development of the provisions in Annex 6, Part I, Chapter 15 was driven by the need to consider the inherent hazardous properties of the items being transported. There are clearly hazards associated with the improper loading of aeroplanes when conducting operations that utilize cargo compartments, for example, the inadequate securing of loads, or loading items outside of the aeroplane centre of gravity limitations. However, these apply equally regardless of the properties of the items themselves, and hence fall outside the scope of this manual. An operator must still consider those hazards as part of their ongoing safety risk management processes, and ensure that items are loaded and properly restrained in cargo compartments in accordance with their mass and balance manuals.

It is important to note that the risk assessment mandated in Annex 6, Part I, Chapter 15 is not intended to be conducted by the operator on a flight-by-flight basis. Rather, it should be applied to all operations that involve the transport of items in the cargo compartment, based on the specific type of operations that the operator conducts. If an operator were to deviate from the operations that defined the initial risk assessment, then it must be revisited to ensure new hazards have not been introduced by the change in operations. Even if there are no changes to operations, the risk assessment should be revisited periodically as part of the operator’s overall safety management activities, as safety management seeks to proactively mitigate safety risks before they result in aviation accidents and incidents.