Samenvatting

Taking into account the lack of uniform guidelines for the design and classification of safety recommendations, a relevant framework was developed according to academic and professional literature. The framework includes nine design criteria for recommendations, it incorporates classifications of their scope and expected effectiveness, and it was used to perform a questionnaire survey across aviation professionals involved in the generation of safety recommendations. The goal of the survey was to capture (1) whether practitioners are knowledgeable about the design criteria, (2) the degree to which they apply those criteria along with corresponding reasons, (3) perceptions of the expected effectiveness of types of controls introduced through recommendations, (4) the frequency of generating each control type and respective explanations, and (5) the extent to which practitioners focus on each of the categories of recommendations’ scope and the relevant reasons. Overall, the results showed: an adequate level of knowledge of the design criteria; a strong positive association of the knowledge on a particular criterion with the degree of its implementation; a variety of frequencies the recommendations are addressed to each of the scope areas; a reverse order of perception of the expected effectiveness of control types compared to the literature suggestions. A thematic analysis revealed a broad spectrum of reasons about the degree to which the design criteria are applied, and the extent to which the various types of recommendations are generated. The results of the survey can be exploited by the aviation sector to steer its relevant education and training efforts and assess the need for influencing the direction safety recommendations are addressed. Similar research is suggested to be conducted by organizations and regional and international agencies of any industry sector by ensuring a larger sample.