Scale Down for Compliance

Scale Down for Compliance

By Catalina9

Scale Down for Compliance

An airport operator has several responsibilities when it comes to the activation of an airport emergency plan, activities during the emergency and post emergency activities. Airport Emergency Plan compliance is a comprehensive task which at first glance seems impossible to comprehend and achieve.

Airport emergency planning is the process of preparing an airport to cope with an emergency occurring at the airport or in its vicinity. The object of the airport emergency planning is to minimize the effects of an emergency, particularly in respect of saving lives and maintaining aircraft operations. The airport emergency plan sets forth the procedures for coordinating the response of different airport agencies and other community agencies in the surrounding community that could be of assistance in responding to the emergency. The basic needs and concepts of emergency planning and exercises are command, communicate and coordinate.

An airport operator has a responsibility to identify organizations at the airport and community organizations that are capable of aiding during an emergency at the airport or in its vicinity. Telephone numbers and other contact information for each organization are listed in the airport emergency plan and the type of assistance each organization can provide is also listed.

An airport operator has a responsibility to identify any other resources available at the airport and in the surrounding communities for use during an emergency, or in recovery operations and provide their telephone numbers and other contact information.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe lines of authority for each emergency and the relationships between the organizations and how interactions between these organizations are coordinated, and coordination within each of these organizations.

An airport operator has a responsibility to identify supervisors and describe the responsibilities for each emergency.

An airport operator has a responsibility to specify the positions occupied by airport personnel who will respond to an emergency and describe their specific emergency response duties.

An airport operator has a responsibility to identify the on-scene controller and describe the person’s emergency response duties.

An airport operator has a responsibility to provide authorization for a person to act as an on-scene controller or a supervisor if they are not airport personnel.

An airport operator has a responsibility to set out the criteria to be used for positioning the on-scene controller within visual range of an emergency scene.

An airport operator has a responsibility to set out the measures to be taken to make the on-scene controller easily identifiable at all times by all persons responding to an emergency.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedure for transferring control to the on-scene controller if initial on-scene control was assumed by a person from a responding organization, e.g. fire, ambulance or police.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe any training and qualifications required for the on-scene controller and other airport personnel identified in the emergency plan.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the method for recording any training provided to the on-scene controller and airport personnel.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the communication procedures and specify the radio frequencies to be used to link the airport operator with the on- scene controller, and to link the airport operator with the providers of ground traffic control services and air traffic control services.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the communication procedures allowing the on-scene controller to communicate with the organizations identified in the emergency plan.

An airport operator has a responsibility to identify the alerting procedures that activate the emergency plan, establish the necessary level of response, allow immediate communication with the organizations identified in the emergency plan in accordance with the required level of response, confirm the dispatch of each responding organization, establish the use of standard terminology in communications, and establish the use of the appropriate radio frequencies as set out in the emergency plan.

An airport operator has a responsibility to specify the airport communication equipment testing procedures, a schedule for the testing, and the method of keeping records of the tests.

An airport operator has a responsibility to specify the location of the emergency coordination center used to provide support to the on-scene controller when ARFF is on the field.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the measures for dealing with adverse climatic conditions and darkness for each potential emergency.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedures to assist persons who have been evacuated if their safety is threatened or airside operations are affected.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedures respecting the review and confirmation of emergency status reports, coordination with the coroner and the investigator designated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada regarding the accident site conditions, disabled aircraft removal, airside inspection results, accident or incident site conditions, and air traffic services and NOTAM coordination to permit the return of the airport to operational status after an emergency situation.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedures for controlling vehicular flow during an emergency to ensure the safety of vehicles, aircraft and persons.

An airport operator has a responsibility to specify the procedures for issuing a NOTAM in the event of an emergency affecting the critical category for fire fighting if ARFF are available on the field, or changes or restrictions in facilities or services at the airport during and after an emergency.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedures for preserving evidence as it relates to aircraft or aircraft part removal, and the site of the accident or incident in accordance with the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the procedures to be followed, after any exercise, or the activation of the plan, a post-emergency debriefing session with all participating organizations, the recording of the minutes of the debriefing session, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the emergency plan to identify deficiencies, changes, if any, to be made in the emergency plan, and partial testing subsequent to the modification of an airport emergency plan.

An airport operator has a responsibility to describe the process for an annual review and update of the emergency plan, describe the administrative procedure for the distribution of copies of an updated version of the emergency plan to the airport personnel who require them and to the community organizations identified in the plan, and describe the procedures to assist in locating an aircraft when the airport receives notification that an ELT has been activated.

An airport operator includes in the airport emergency plan a copy of signed agreements between the airport operator and community organizations that provide emergency response services to the airport and an airport grid map.

A Safety Management System (SMS) is a process oversight system of all areas of airport operations. The challenge with an Airport Emergency Plan (AEP) is not all required responsibilities, and a conglomerate of interactions, but that the AEP must be scaled down to size and complexity of the airport. Unless the AEP is scaled, the airport operator is in non- compliance with a regulatory requirement that a safety management system is adapted to the size, nature and complexity of the operations, activities, hazards and risks associated with the operations. The key to success is to scale down to a common denominator with combined tasks.

Catalina9