{"id":2466,"date":"2025-02-07T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.aertecsolutions.com\/seguridad-aeroportuaria-safety-security\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T12:51:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:51:05","slug":"airport-security-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/blog\/seguridad-aeroportuaria-safety-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety vs Security at airports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we use the word \"airport\" in airport terms, we use the word\u00a0<\/span><b>Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,In some cases, ambiguity arises because the word may refer to two related but independent concepts:\u00a0<\/span><b>Operational safety<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b>Physical Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, in English, there are two different terms for each of these concepts:\u00a0<\/span><b>\u2018Safety\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0(operational security) and\u00a0<\/span><b>\u2018Security\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (physical security). Therefore, when reference is made in English to the concept of\u00a0<\/span><b>Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0in the field of airports, the appropriate connotation should be indicated, or the corresponding anglicism should be used.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>What is \u2018Safety\u2019 or Operational Safety?<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the word <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">safety<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> translates as \u201csafety\u201d, the expression <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be safe<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> means \u201cto be safe\u201d. This nuance helps us to understand what the essence of Operational Security is, or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safety<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the <\/span><b>definition<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is contained in the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Royal Decree 862\/2009<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which regulates the technical standards for <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">operation of aerodromes<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of public use, the Operational Security is \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the state in which the risk of injury to persons or damage to property is reduced and maintained at or below an acceptable level by a continuous process of hazard identification and risk management<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\".<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Operational Security (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safety<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) refers to all processes whose aim is to <\/span><b>reduce the number of incidents and accidents<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in air transport. The achievement of this objective is based on three main aspects:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>definition of<\/b> <b>Operational Security Levels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and their corresponding indicators. This enables the measurement, monitoring and tracking of the security of aircraft, passengers and other aviation stakeholders.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research and <\/span><b>Security Incident Analysis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in order to implement <\/span><b>preventive measures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the basis of the experience gained.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The detection, assessment and <\/span><b>Risk reduction (or elimination)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, The aim is to have a level of risk that is at least tolerable, if not zero.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The processes related to the Operational Safety of aerodromes and airports are subject to a number of different <\/span><b>regulations<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">national and international, and are implemented through the <\/span><b>Operational Safety Management System<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safety Management System<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (SMS) at each airport. These systems are governed by a series of principles such as the commitment and training of all employees in safety management; the investigation and sharing of information on incidents, as well as on best practices to resolve them; the effective implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); and the implementation of a Safety Management System (SMS). <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Standard\/Safe Operating Procedures<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (SOP); or the oversight and continuous improvement of operational safety processes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A key issue in the management of airport safety and security is the <\/span><b>risk prevention<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, The aim is to be able to respond effectively to such issues as <\/span><b>what can happen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>how likely<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>What is \u2018Security\u2019 or Physical Security?<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In general terms, Physical Security or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">security<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is defined as the protection of persons, property, data or assets from physical actions that may cause them harm or loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Civil Aviation has suffered since its origins from a multitude of criminal acts and unlawful interference. We all still have in our minds the shocking images of the attack on the Twin Towers or the explosion in the Madrid - Barajas Airport car park, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical Security (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Security<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) has as its primary objective to ensure the <\/span><b>protection of all actors involved in Civil Aviation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against possible acts of unlawful interference, meaning passengers, crews, ground personnel, the public, aircraft, facilities and information necessary for air navigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, the following are implemented <\/span><b>multiple systems and measures to ensure security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in airports in different areas: access control, explosives detection, anti-terrorist surveillance, alarms and recognition systems, video surveillance, fire, panic and intruder detection, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to achieve the objective of maintaining Physical Security at airports, an adequate organisation of both human and material resources is used at national and international level. With the aim of standardising this organisation, the State, through the\u00a0<\/span><b>State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, The \"Safety Framework for Civil Aviation\" sets out broad and comprehensive criteria based on legal provisions, which are applied by the many entities involved in any civil aviation safety structure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the latest measures adopted is the <\/span><b>obligation for any worker<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which carries out its activity in an airport facility from the performance of a\u00a0<\/span><b>Basic Airport Security Awareness Course<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The benefit of this course, which we can provide from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/\"><b>AERTEC<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> thanks to our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/formacion.aertecsolutions.com\/formadores\/\"><b>AVSEC trainers<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is a necessary step in order to obtain the corresponding personal security clearance.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuando en t\u00e9rminos aeroportuarios utilizamos la palabra Seguridad se produce una cierta ambig\u00fcedad, debido a que dicha palabra puede hacer referencia a dos conceptos relacionados&#8230; [+]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":2467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,48,49,29,50,421],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-aeropuertos","tag-avsec-avsaf","tag-legislacion","tag-normas","tag-seguridad","tag-seguridad-operacional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12392,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions\/12392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aertecsolutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}