Total Aviation Quality Ltd. (TAQ) has been established with the purpose of providing independent expert advice, advocacy and consultancy to the aviation industry as well as to government and corporate agencies, and other industry sectors that interface with the aviation industry. TAQ’s focus is on a philosophy of safety and professionalism in aviation based on the principles of “continuous improvement.”
TAQ will work with companies that recognize their corporate responsibilities to exercise a duty of care toward their employees, the ones required to be on board aircraft as part of their employment. A duty of care that doesn’t rest with meeting the minimum regulatory requirements, but rather a duty of care that ensures that the aviation services selected by the company have been independently scrutinized to ensure that the service is the safest, most professional and appropriate service available for the job at hand. Most importantly, Management can be assured that they have taken all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their personnel and that they contract aviation providers that exceed industry benchmarks.
How will a company or agency benefit from selecting providers committed to exceeding industry standards?
In a sentence: Peace of mind.
The aviation industry is exceedingly competitive. However, not all operators are created equal. Any aviation company legitimately offering a commercial service for hire or reward will hold a valid Air Operator Certificate (AOC) issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. They are required to do so by law. However, the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and the Rules made under this Act require only that an operator meets the minimum standard required by the Rules. While there may be various incentives for an operator to exceed the minimum standards, the fact that an AOC is held and can be produced is testament only to the fact the operator meets the minimum requirements. No allowance is made under legislation to require an operator to exceed the minimum.
Having been instrumental in ensuring CAA certificated operators meet the minimum standard for more than 8 years, the Director of TAQ, John Fogden, understands that some operators consistently exceed the minimum standards required by law and others do not. How do you as a user of aviation services establish this to your satisfaction and your corporate obligations? TAQ can conduct one-off safety assessments, ongoing safety audits, or other services tailored to your requirements, of your regular or potential service providers to ensure you are contracting a safe and compliant operator for your personnel to use.
The aviation market is more competitive than ever before. You will be faced with a choice of service providers competing for your business. Some competition will be based purely on price. While relevant, price remains one of the biggest points of difference between companies and a safe and professional operation is very seldom going to be the cheapest.
TAQ has the experience and capability to look behind the companies and the services they offer to provide you with the assurance that you are utilizing, paying for and putting your people on board the safest and most appropriate operator for the job.
TAQ provides this service by:
- Being independent, both from the organisation and from the client,
- applying knowledge gained through over 40 years in the aviation industry,
- applying experience gained from 12 years in the regulatory and safety environment,
- researching and presenting international safety management practices
- benchmarking against globally recognized ‘industry best practice’,
- Identifying and confirming potential suppliers-of-choice based on the principles of safety, professionalism and continuous improvement.