January/February 2023 - 41

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AUTHOR Charity Catalfomo
After the Emergency:
What's Next?
Is your airport taking advantage of the valuable lessons
learned during exercises and real-life emergencies to
enhance preparedness and operational readiness?
ing to the airport. The FAA requires
airports certificated under the Federal
Code of Regulations Part 139 to have
an emergency plan and depending on
scale and type of operations, conduct
full-scale emergency preparedness
drills and tabletop exercises.
The planning period for a full-scale
emergency exercise may span several
years and include a significant time
and resource commitment from an
airport. When the day of the emergency
exercise arrives, concludes successfully
and the excitement is over,
what happens next? In the exercise
design process, attention and resources
must be given to the evaluation
process, specifically how lessons
learned will be utilized to strengthen
the airport's capabilities. This includes
updating and fine-tuning relevant
policies and procedures.
The Fede r al Eme rgenc y
474324764 | 4KODIAK | GETTY IMAGES
IN JUNE of 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) released information via a CertAlert to provide
continued guidance for airport operators in support of
emergency preparedness and response. This CertAlert
placed an emphasis on ensuring that relevant parties
know their designated roles and responsibilities outlined
in the Airport Emergency Plan (AEP) and incorporating
lessons learned for continuous improvement.
Many airports, both big and small,
activate their emergency plans quite
frequently, responding to situations
that at a minimum may temporarily
affect the ability to operate as well as
those that have the potential for property
damage, and most seriously the
loss of human life. Airport emergency
plans typically outline a general
response for a broad array of scenarios
including but not limited to: aircraft
emergencies, hazardous material
events, power loss, crowd control and
public health emergencies.
Emergency responders and airport
personnel " within the fence line " are
likely to be more familiar with how
their facilities operate and the polices/
procedures that govern emergencies
for well-run responses and an efficient
return to airport/airfield operations.
It is the responsibility of the airport
operator to ensure that all stakeholders,
including those support personnel and
responders from outside of the fence
line know their roles when respondManagement
Agency (FEMA) provides
guidance on exercise planning
and design. This guidance includes
a focus on improvement planning
and through this process airports can
develop and assign corrective action
plans to build and sustain capabilities
and maintain readiness. These guidelines
along with tools such as hotwashes
and debriefs are critical for capturing
information for areas of improvement.
Hotwashes are typically informal
and may be conducted immediately
after an incident or exercise to capture
initial feedback on how the response
went. Debriefs may be more structured
and can be scheduled at an interval
after an incident or exercise to present
what was observed and to gather specific
information from responders
and stakeholders. Information from
both may be utilized in the planning
process of future drills and exercises to
create muscle memory in areas where
repetition and clarity may be valuable.
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January/February 2023

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