World Meteorological Day Seychelles Meteorological Authority is ISO certified |24 March 2022
The Seychelles Meteorological Authority (SMA) under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment yesterday celebrated its ISO 9001:2015 certification in aviation weather services.
The event, which took place at the Savoy Hotel conference room, coincided with the World Meteorological Day.
Present for the ceremony were the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Flavien Joubert; the chairman of SMA board, Gerard Hoareau; the chief executive (CEO) of SMA, Vincent Amelie; representative of the BSI (British Standards Institution) Group Limited, Tania duBruyn; and staff from SMA.
In his opening remarks CEO Amelie said that the world meteorological day presents a moment of reflection of what has been achieved, what remains to be done, to appreciate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Mr Amelie added that the World Meteorological Day is also an opportunity to showcase the essential contributions of the national meteorological and hydrological services.
The theme for this year’s World Meteorological Day – ‘Early warning, early action’ – focuses on disaster risk reduction and climate resilience which also relates to the upcoming hydromet project.
The process of ISO certification started more than eleven years ago after the SMA failed a compliance audit in 2010 and the authority was recommended to put certain systems in place to comply with new requirements of the WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) and the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation).
Mr Amelie said they faced many challenges and eventually made it to become ISO certified.
Ms duBruyn, the representative of BSI group, handed over the certificate to the CEO and staff of SMA commending them on this achievement.
Mr Amelie gave a short presentation on the SMA’s localisation plan which was followed by the signing of the Hydromet Project Agreement by Minister Flavien Joubert.
Minister Joubert said that the certification is a significant achievement by such a small entity. He emphasised that the hydromet is a major step for the agency to enable it to achieve its objective of providing early warning and building its capacity.
He added that the Seychelles government insists that all public entities should perform to a high level and that SMA has taken this to action.
The CEO of SMA says the certification means they have achieved a standard that allows SMA to give out better information to aviation that meets the international requirements.
He said that since the opening of the airport they have been offering that service but it hasn’t been up to standard.
The certification means that SMA plays an important role to assure that the Seychelles international airport is safe. For instance, when a planes takes off, it will get essential information from SMA as well as en route and on landing at its destination.
Mr Amelie said there are two principal benefits to be derived from the certification – one is aviation safety and the other safer flights for passengers and in turn this benefits the economy. The certification has a duration of four years after which the authority will be re audited with a yearly surveillance audit.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the ceremony.
Marla Simeon
Photos by Thomas Meriton
