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Copyright: WFP

During the June 2003 meeting of the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM), The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) was requested by the HLCM to administer all UN humanitarian and ‘other’ air operations, with the exception of Peace Keeping operations. WFP accepted this request.

In this regard, based on the approved UN Aviation Standards, developed in conjunction with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, as well as following the recommendations of the audit report made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the WFP Aviation Safety Unit (ASU) was fully activated as of 01st January 2004.

The Aviation Safety Unit (ASU) is an office organizationally independent from the WFP Aviation Section. The ASU directly reports to the WFP Senior Deputy Executive Director. This independent reporting channel ensures that the aviation safety activities and reports are not compromised with the organization’s daily operational requirements. It also guarantees senior management commitment to safety and recognizes it as a corporate duty.
The WFP aviation safety activities are aimed to reduce the risk of accidents and to enhance safety awareness throughout all users and service providers.
A risk management programme for chartered aircraft, which includes the quality assurance of service providers, is in place. This plan incorporates the Continuous Preventive Safety Surveillance Programme (CPSSP). Through the CPPSP WFP keeps both a frequent and close watch of the air carrier’s ability to provide both safe and high quality service. These actions are part of the ASU responsibilities.

A blame-free reporting system has been implemented and its objective is to create a safety environment by substituting preventive corrective action instead of punitive reaction against any single party involved.

The Aviation Safety Unit is based in Rome and together with three Regional Safety Offices in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Sharjah is responsible for the aviation safety activities of the humanitarian air services provided by WFP.

Ensuring the highest level of safety and mitigating risk are of greatest importance to WFP Aviation Service. It strives to offer professional and safe air transport service with a policy of quality assurance and quality control.

General Intro to QA

WFP Aviation sees "quality" as the ability of a product or a service to satisfy its users and "quality assurance" as the process that demonstrates that its product or service meets set standards.  In this context, "quality" includes the judgement of an individual or organization, the suitability of a product or services for a specific purpose, as well as its correspondence to a rating, its performance, and its ability to meet specific goals and requirements.

Going further, WFP Aviation follows procedures of quality control, implementing regular testing procedures against WFP's own definition of quality and  continuously refining procedures as indicated by the testing. 

Regular assessments or checks need to be made on a service or a product and the outcome measured against set standards. If an assessment reveals that the product or service is substandard, "the gap" needs to be identified. This is commonly done by focusing on what is referred to as the "Five Ws":

• What error was made?
• Where was it made?
• When was it made?
• Who made it?
• Why was it made?

Once these have been identified, recommendations for corrective action can be made, first and foremost to close the existing gap but also to prevent any potentially weak link from remaining in the operation or production.