Integrated Emergency, Safety, and Security Management Software for Airports: A buyer’s guide

Staggering air travel growth poses operational challenge for airports

Today’s airports are like cities in miniature – and not just international hubs, smaller regional airports, as well. Like municipalities, airports oversee police forces, emergency services, security personnel, parking facilities, and commercial tenants, among other third-party entities. Airports’ statutory responsibilities cover public safety, environmental health and safety, and the protective security of critical infrastructure assets. And therefore, they face a dizzying number of regulations, doled out by local, state, federal, even global enforcement agencies. 

So far, airports have held up admirably to the pressure. Indeed, the sector has achieved an enviable safety record, zealously maintained through constant vigilance. 

But now, airports face a new challenge altogether: the specter of unprecedented growth. The broader aviation industry is set to double in size over the next two decades. The number of employees affiliated with the industry alone will increase from 65 million to nearly 100 million in twenty yearsⁱ. Passenger and freighter aircraft is also projected to double from 23,000 to 48,000 by 2038ⁱⁱ. 

And we haven’t even gotten to the number of passengers flying. In 2018, 4.4 billion people flew. The 2037 forecast is 8.2 billion air passengersⁱⁱⁱ.

For individual airports, the implications of this explosive growth in the wider aviation industry couldn’t be clearer. Airports know that every airline journey begins and ends in one of their hubs. Guaranteeing a safe, secure, and seamless passenger experience while maintaining compliance with already strict obligations will almost certainly mean investments today. 

For an asset-intensive industry like airports, those investments, expenses that can’t be avoided simply because airports also serve as critical infrastructure, will perforce be costly. Indeed, many airports are already operating at a loss, as traditional revenue sources like airport parking and rental cars dry up.

Instead, airports must look to new ways to drive operational efficiencies, such as integrating existing emergency, safety, and security operations in a centralized software platform. How, then, can airports stay safe, secure, and operate smoothly? Integrated safety and security management software, purpose-built for airports, can help. But first, airport operators need to know what exactly to look for to manage safety, security, and business continuity, from the smallest incident to a major crisis or emergency. What follows is a list of key capabilities you need in an integrated platform.

Key software capabilities to consider for airports

• Ensure compliance with important regulations.

  Airports operate in one of the most heavily regulated spaces, requiring strict compliance with a bevy of local, state, and federal regulations as well as industry-wide standards. 

At first blush, the industry’s enviable safety record might suggest that maintaining compliance is simple. But as heads of airport operations know all too well, that record has only been achieved through constant vigilance. The starkest challenge comes from perfecting the routine safety checks and operational protocols that make flying safely a reality for billions of passengers every year. Part 139 Inspection Checklists need to be undertaken regularly every day to ensure the airport meets compliance requirements of Airport Operating Certificate. In addition, hazards at the airport need to be notified to flight crew for departing and arriving flights through Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) on a constantly updated basis. 

Here, integrated safety and security software can deliver greater efficiency. Take Part 139 Airport Certification, for instance. The source of competitive advantage to many airports, Part 139 compliance means that inspection checklists need to be undertaken regularly to ensure the airport is safe and meeting the terms of its certification. Failure to inspect, on the other hand, could result in suspension.

So, when it comes to fulfilling Part 139 obligations more efficiently, what should airports be looking for? Airports need a solution that provides digital checklists for relevant inspections. Not just a subset of inspections, but over 80 inspection and audit templates, including the following:

• Daily – Regularly Scheduled Inspections

  - Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF)
  - Construction
  - Fueling Operations
  -  Markings
  - Navigation Aids (NAVAIDS)
  - Obstructions
  - Paved Areas
  - Public Protection
  - Safety Areas
  - Signs
  - Snow & Ice Control
  - Wildlife Management

• Notice to Airmen (NOTAM)

• Continuous Assessments

  - Construction
  - Foreign Object debris (FOD)
  - Fueling Operations
  - Ground Vehicles
  - Public Protection
  - Snow & Ice Removal
  - Wildlife Hazard Management

• Periodic Condition Assessments

  - Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF)
  - Fuel Storage Areas and Loading/Unloading
  - Lighting
  - Markings
  - Mobile Fuelers
  - Navigation Aids
  - Obstructions
  - Paved Area
  - Signs

• Special Condition Assessments

  - Construction
  - Markings & Signs
  - Paved Areas
  - Safety Areas
  - Snow and Ice Control
  - Surface Movement Guidance and Control  Systems (SMGCS) 

• Address airside safety events

  Stemming from a 2006 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) circular, Part 139-certified airports need to have a rigorous Safety Management System in place including a safety policy aligned with objectives, the ability
  to perform ISO 31001 risk assessments, and audit control.

But when airports audit their own SMS (safety management system) or SIMS (safety information management system), they tend to find a few things missing. For one, the lack of a universal policy and procedural framework for risk and safety-related information management is disconcerting. That’s because the lack of a centralized structure so often leads to poorer decision making, reduced ability to identify and mitigate injury and legal compliance risks, higher likelihood of
falling out of compliance with regulatory obligations, and duplicative administrative and compliance costs (and effort).

So, what can integrated emergency, safety, and security management software bring to the table? Advanced platforms can support an airport’s safety policy by recording senior management’s commitment to continually
improving safety (in addition to related goals and objectives) and incorporating methods and processes to implement that policy. 

What’s more, flexible platforms come with integrated safety risk management modules that follow the bestpractice, ISO 31000 risk management standard, with userdefined risks and controls, including airside and landside risks. Those modules help teams continuously review risks and controls across the airport.

That’s not all. Best-practice software also supports safety assurance and auditing functions, enabling airports to monitor the effectiveness of risk controls, while providing a robust risk and control library that simplifies the identification of new hazards based on industry trends. 

Ultimately, the platform that’s right for your airport should aim for safety promotion through the management of staff training (including contractors), as well as integrating communications with all other major stakeholders to promote a positive safety culture. 

• Manage all airport hazards

  When it comes to air travel, the saying, “birds of a feather flock together,” takes on a troubling connotation. In 2016 alone, the U.K. recorded more than 1,800 confirmed bird strikes, or eight in every 10,000 flightsi^v. Similarly, statistics in
  the U.S. point to an estimated 13,000-plus bird strikes in this country every year. Passenger lives aren’t usually at stake in these incidents^v. But as airport operators know, the risks of bird strikes aren’t exactly insignificant, either.

What does effective risk mitigation look like? One of the most important strategies is record-keeping. Airports need to monitor bird activity around the clock in a centralized repository, where they can keep up-to-the-minute records and make comments. What’s more, aircraft movement logs should record the sum of landings and take-offs. That number should be used as a denominator for ratio calculations, like monthly bird strike rates. 

Nor do operators only have to manage birds and other wildlife. Integrated safety and security software should also be able to manage other airside and landside incidents, like AVC, aircraft security and safety, spills and pollutions, habitat and heritage, fire and emergency, hazardous materials, traffic, property, and safety or service disruption in one integrated system.

Further, airports are complex ecosystems whose operations are only getting more intricate to meet increased demand. Your solution must also manage complaints, care park issues, commercial, and especially project incidents, as well. 

But you can only do so by giving key stakeholders access when they need it. For instance, staff and contractors need mobile app access for reporting incidents, hazards or threats, receiving alerts and notifications, safety duress alarms, and location tracking.

• Escalate incidents to emergencies

  Of course, routine incidents do sometimes become major emergencies. Worse still, the unthinkable happens. In those circumstances, integrated emergency, safety, and security management software needs to kick in, escalating operational incidents to emergencies via response protocols, like the dispatch of aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) equipment and staff and situation-specific dashboards for increased visibility. 

Software should also be integrated with passenger manifest systems to import details of passengers affected by a given incident, thereby expediting the initiation of a case (via case-management workflows).

Post-hoc matters, too. That’s why software should also be able to conduct damage and condition assessments during the recovery phase of the incident lifecycle.

• Provide better visibility to senior management.

  When incidents do become emergencies, senior management wants to know first. In fact, executives usually want oversight and visibility whenever they’re interested. 

Fortunately, providing better visibility to executives goes hand in hand with maintaining a common operating picture of the airport, which is, after all, a 24/7/365 operation. Achieving both objectives entails robust reporting and analytics, including daily digests, executive dashboards, incident trends (segmented by severity and category), incident frequency rates, airport targets, and other inspection analytics.

The wider aviation industry is entering a period of unprecedent growth. Airports, for their parts, must prepare. 

But preparing doesn’t just mean building out more passenger-friendly infrastructure. It means keeping everyone safe and secure and operations moving smoothly, even during major projects. For that, airports will need best-practice, integrated software to manage safety, security, and business continuity, from the smallest incident to a major crisis or emergency.

Citations

ⁱ International Air Transport Association: Air transport supports 65.5 million jobs and $2.7 trillion in economic activity. Available at https://www.iata. org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2018-10-02-01.aspx.

ⁱⁱ Mark Caswell, Business Traveller: Airbus: world’s passenger fleet to double in 20 years. Available at https://www.businesstraveller.com/business travel/2018/07/10/airbus-worlds-passenger-fleet-to-double-in-20-years/

ⁱⁱⁱ International Air Transport Association, Airlines: Passenger numbers to hit 8.2bn by 2037 – IATA report. Available at https://www.airlines.iata.org/ news/passenger-numbers-to-hit-82bn-by-2037-iata-report.

^iv Beth Daley, The Conversation: What happens when a bird strikes a plane? Available at https://theconversation.com/what-happens-when-a-bird strikes-a-plane-84502.

^v Gavin Haines, The Telegraph: How common are bird strikes – and could they bring down a passenger jet? Available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ travel/travel-truths/how-dangerous-is-a-bird-strike/.