Learning From What Happened: Reactive Hazard Identification

There are three main ways to identify hazards in aviation: Predictive, Proactive, and Reactive. Each has its role, and together they give us foresight, insight, and hindsight into safety.

On Monday, we looked at predictive hazard identification, spotting risks through trends and foresight. On Wednesday, we explored proactive methods, identifying risks in today’s operations before they escalate. Today, we close the series with reactive hazard identification: learning from what has already happened.

Reactive hazard identification: reflecting on what happened to prevent it from happening again.

What Is Reactive Hazard Identification?

Reactive hazard identification takes place after an event has occurred. It uses reports, investigations, and lessons learned to strengthen the system. While it may come “too late” for the event that triggered it, reactive methods are essential for preventing recurrence and building long-term resilience.

Mandatory Occurrence Reporting

Mandatory reporting is the backbone of reactive hazard identification. It ensures that incidents, occurrences, and deviations are formally documented, analyzed, and shared.

While voluntary reporting is proactive, mandatory occurrence reporting is reactive. It tells us what did happen, not just what could happen. This record of actual events provides critical data for safety management systems.

Accident Investigations

Learning from accidents is a cornerstone of aviation safety.

• Internal investigations allow an operator to examine events within their own organization, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions.

• External investigations, such as those conducted by the Accident Investigation Board, provide valuable lessons when similar risks apply to other operators.

Every investigation is a chance to look beyond compliance and ask: “What systemic issues allowed this to happen, and how can we prevent it in the future?”

Information Sharing

Perhaps the most powerful, and sometimes most challenging, part of reactive hazard identification is sharing information across the industry.

When it comes to safety, organizations must see themselves as collaborators, not competitors. Marketing and finance may be a different cup of tea, but safety information should never be kept in silos.

Sharing lessons learned from occurrences and investigations, whether through safety forums, industry groups, or direct operator-to-operator dialogue, helps ensure that one operator’s misfortune does not become another’s tragedy.

Why Reactive Hazard Identification Matters

• Provides hindsight: the clearest evidence of what went wrong and why.

• Turns individual events into system-wide learning opportunities.

• Strengthens resilience by ensuring the same hazard doesn’t cause repeated incidents.

Wrapping Up the Series

Together, the three methods form a complete approach to hazard identification:

• Predictive = foresight (looking ahead).

• Proactive = insight (spotting risks in today’s operation).

• Reactive = hindsight (learning from what has already happened).

Each method has its place, and when combined, they create a robust safety net for aviation operations.

👉 Discussion question: How does your organization balance predictive, proactive, and reactive methods in its safety management system?