Why 70% of Your Safety Reports Should Be Voluntary - Not Mandatory

In a healthy aviation safety culture, the majority of safety reports should be voluntary — not mandatory.

If most of your reports are Mandatory Occurrence Reports (MORs), you’re not ahead of risk — you’re chasing it.

✅ The 70/30 Rule of Reporting

Strong Safety Management Systems (SMS) typically show a pattern:

• 70%+ of safety reports are voluntary

• 30% or fewer are mandatory (MORs)

This is more than just a reporting statistic — it’s a health check for your safety culture.

🔍 Why Voluntary Reports Matter

Voluntary reports capture:

• Near misses

• Confusion or uncertainty

• Deviations from procedure

• Risky shortcuts

• Unsafe trends before they result in an incident

They give your team a chance to fix small problems before they grow — which is the entire purpose of a proactive SMS.

Mandatory reports, by contrast, tell us what went wrong. Voluntary reports tell us what could go wrong — and give us a chance to act in time.

📊 What Safety Officers Should Monitor

If you’re a Safety Manager or Safety Officer, tracking this voluntary-to-mandatory ratio is essential. It reflects:

• Trust in your safety program

• Willingness to speak up

• Maturity of your safety culture

• Effectiveness of your Just Culture messaging

When voluntary reports start to decline, that’s often the first signal that employees are no longer confident in the system.

📌 Final Thought

Strong SMS programs don’t just count reports — they study patterns. And this is one pattern you don’t want to ignore.

A proactive culture is built on open reporting, not just regulatory compliance. Encouraging voluntary reporting is how you stay ahead of risk, not just respond to it.