Self-protection plans at airports

Every day, millions of passengers travel through the world's airports, for whom the most important thing is to make their travel experience as efficient as possible., comfortable and secure possible. There are times when we do not notice them, but the reality is that airports are not exempt from experiencing emergency situations for which they must be prepared. Having operating procedures It is not only a legal requirement, but also a moral obligation towards the users and workers of these facilities.

Airport security is a premise that is always present in the activities carried out, based on foresight, prevention and protection.

All Self-protection Plan begins with a detailed description of those potentially hazardous situations capable of producing an emergency situation at the airport and its facilities, so that they can be prevented in the first instance, or dealt with in the second.

An emergency or self-protection plan should define what can be called the three "P's" of; Anticipation, Prevention and Protection.

The Forecast is the one that search and analysis phase of those situations capable of generating an emergency situation.

Once the potentially dangerous situations have been identified, the next step is the Prevention, who tries to prevent such a risk situation from materialising. This is the most favourable and desired state, especially when we are talking about an activity of public concurrence such as an airport, since these are environments where the density of occupation is extremely high and where many different activities concur.

The Protection is the last, and least desired, phase, which is activated when the emergency situation has materialised, thus activating the procedures or protocols for action with their respective material and human resources, both in-house and external to the airport. In this phase, the aim is to control the emergency in its early stages, guaranteeing a rapid and effective response that neutralises the emergency as soon as possible. The objective is to reduce human and material damage, as well as possible collateral damage that could paralyse the partial or total operation of the airport.

Many will ask themselves, and what are the emergency resources such as Civil Protection, Fire Brigade, Emergency Medical Services, FFCCSE, among others, for? The answer is simple: Self-protection is a legislative obligation. acquired by each business activity, which requires each company to deal with its own emergencies. However, it is possible that, due to the scarcity of the company's own resources, or the seriousness or scope of the emergency, the participation and intervention of emergency organisations outside the company may be required. It should not be forgotten that outside resources are limited in relation to the number of existing business activities. It should also be considered that their response time would be longer, increasing the possibility of the emergency progressing to more serious stages.

Any Emergency or Self-Protection Plan must be drawn up under two premises: the objective and the subjective. The premise objective is conditioned by the various implementing regulations that develop this issue. The premise subjective is conditioned either by; when the application standard does not address certain aspects of the emergency, leaving these to the discretion of the technical drafter, or the psychological aspect. The latter is fundamental to understanding human behaviour in emergency situations, both of the intervening teams and of the users. This is a factor that is sometimes forgotten during the drafting of the Emergency or Self-Protection Plan's action procedures, disassociating the emergency from the human condition.

There are two aspects that are of particular importance in an airport self-protection plan. The first is related to the evacuation proceduresThis is critical due to the high number of passengers, workers and other users. The second aspect is related to all those companies operating within the airport facilities. Let us start with the first aspect.

Evacuation is part of our main objective, which is to save lives. In order to be efficient, the exits and evacuation routes must be fully operational and correctly signposted, and there must also be well-defined evacuation procedures that are well known to the members of the alarm and evacuation team (AEE). Avoiding the stampede effect, as well as the entrapment effect, are two of the objectives that evacuation procedures and the teams involved must avoid.

The second aspect deals with the so-called "tenants", understood as any company that carries out its activity within the airport facilities. This can range from a small shop or business to a large catering facility, as well as an office or office of an airline or handling agent or service company. This second aspect coincides with the greatest source of misunderstandings when these companies claim to be "annexed" to the airport's self-protection plan. There is no such concept of annexation, as all responsibility would fall directly on the airport.This is not correct. Therefore, each tenant must have its own emergency plan or self-protection plan, according to the intrinsic risk level of its own activity.

In the case of Spain, the Emergency Plan shall be defined by the article 20 of the Prevention of Occupational Risks Act 31/95being usually defined for low-risk activities, and the Self-protection Plan will be defined either by the Royal Decree 393/2007or on the other hand regional or local standard The emergency plan for high-risk activities or decreed emergencies. Irrespective of whether the tenant has an emergency plan or a self-protection plan, these are to be integrate in the airport's Self-Protection Plan. To integrate is to act jointly, i.e. your activity in my workplace. As mentioned above, each activity must assume its own emergencies, regardless of whether it shares the same workplace, in this case an airport.

In addition to the above, it should not be forgotten that an airport Self-Protection Plan must contemplate aeronautical emergencies, as this is its main activity. The risk of attacks and other security threats must also be addressed, due to the media repercussion and social alarm that they can generate. Last but not least, a self-protection plan must also contemplate possible natural risks that could affect the security of the airport premises.

The aim of all this is, as always, that passengers can travel in comfort and efficiency, while airport companies and professionals can carry out their work normally. All of this within a framework in which there are the means, protocols and appropriate circumstances for this to be carried out safely.