General Aviation Airport Emergency Plan

The emergency plan at the airport is to provide the administration, staff, and individuals using the airport with the criteria they should follow when there is an emergency. The contingency plan provides specific guidelines and resources to mitigate a particular hazard affecting the airport. Furthermore, the emergency plan outlines the course of actions for the staff concerned with managing the crisis. The emergency plan covers different assumptions since anticipating a crisis before it happens can be difficult. Moreover, it has a framework that shows the responsibilities of each department in the case of a disaster. Various organizational units can be affected by different disasters. Therefore, the emergency plan covers different forms of hazards that have high chances of affecting individuals at the airport. It is also paramount to note that apart from the role of each department, the emergency plan outlines clear roles for every staff member in the airport, which is provided in the responsibility section. The emergency plan also entails the standard law enforcement procedure that should be followed in case there is fire or any other hazard. In addition, it provides the required procedure for both internal and external communication. The response to the hazard depends on nature and specifics of crisis and the appropriate department and personnel. Unlike many other emergency plans, General Aviation plan also has different types of recovery techniques when a disaster happens. The current paper examines the emergency plan of General Aviation Airport.

Part A

A set of particular approaches is used to define an effective emergency plan that can be utilized as a proper guideline. The plan should have seven specific traits, namely flexibility, completeness, interoperability and collaboration, acceptability, feasibility, consistency and standardization, and adequacy. All the above features should be integrated and incorporated in the emergency plan for it to be considered effective. The following section analyzes the effectiveness of the General Aviation emergency plan, taking into consideration seven principles mentioned.

Acceptability

For an emergency plan to be valid, it has to be accepted by different stakeholders in the industry. First, shareholders should accept the proposed plan regarding resources and cost. If shareholders accept the emergency plan, it makes the whole process of funding the plan easier. Second, the plan should be approved by the administration, thus enabling management to mitigate the emergency faster. Third, the personnel and staff should accept the emergency plan (Jenkins, 2010). Consequently, if all stakeholders accept the contingency plan, the process of coordinating will become more effective.

In the case of the General Aviation (n.d.), the airport’s emergency plan can be considered acceptable because it entails all the personnel and stakeholders factored in the process. For instance, one can examine the role of each group of people affected in the emergency plan. Moreover, managers, shareholders, and staff members have the chance of approving the plan and making it an active policy. In the General Aviation (n.d.) emergency plan’s functional area, there is a section that deals with the approval by some of the key stakeholders.

Flexibility

Flexibility is an important aspect of any emergency plan that is aimed at mitigating a number of hazards. The emergency plan can be evaluated as being successful if it is flexible in two various ways. First, the emergency plan should be flexible regarding resources and personnel. In particular, the personnel should be able to adapt to different situations when a crisis happens. Second, the emergency plan should be flexible to cover different risk aspects and hazards (Jenkins, 2010).

Concerning the General Aviation (n.d.) emergency plan, the whole scheme can be considered flexible due to different reasons. First, the plan covers various personnel members who should adhere to the proposed course of actions. Second, the policy covers all individuals at the airport, outlining how to protect them from different hazards such as power loss and fire.

Completeness

An emergency plan should have different objectives that guide the response in the case of a hazardous situation (Jenkins, 2010). The goals should be related to the risks likely to affect the firm and the objectives should serve as a responsive factor. The plan can be considered complete when it considers various outcomes that are likely to affect a firm, hence ensuring maximum preparedness. Completeness also entails the emergency plan having all the needed resources required in case the risk happens, not including physical materials.

The General Aviation (n.d.) emergency plan can be evaluated as complete since it incorporates different hazards that the airport is likely to face. The hazards help the emergency plan to structure sensible objectives that serve as a response to the risks. The framework helps the organization’s emergency plan to meet its target.

Adequacy

Any plan is formulated depending on different goals. The goals are set according to the objectives of the organization (Jenkins, 2010). However, it is paramount to note that most goals made are assumptions. The assumptions in any emergency plan should be realistic. If the assumptions are not realistic, the crisis can cause more causality. Furthermore, the resources in the emergency plan should also be adequate and cost-friendly to the company.

The airport emergency plan has the aspect of adequacy because the majority of the assumptions that make up the objectives of the business plan are realistic. Thus, the emergency plan can control or stop a crisis during or before happening with the estimated resources.

Consistency and Standardization

It is worth noting that estimating the exact time a crisis is going to happen is usually difficult. Therefore, most companies should often update and restructure their emergency plan Research shows that the low likelihood of the emergency occurrence contributes to the failure of the majority of companies’ emergency plan. Therefore, every company should ensure that the process outlined in the emergency plan is continuous. On the other hand, standardization entails that the plan should have a particular technical framework to which it should adhere. The entire process of standardization is usually useful since it makes decision-making quick and easy.

The General Aviation (n.d.) emergency plan is effective regarding consistency and standardization. The plan offers frequent training to the personnel for more information and knowledge regarding ways to deal with emergencies. Secondly, the emergency plan has clear guidelines that one should follow in the case of fire or any other hazard, thus making the process of decision making easier.

Feasibility

Feasibility is a vital feature for both the management and shareholders. To control any crisis or stop it from happening, an organization needs more resources. Feasibility entails the process of making the required resources available to the emergency plan (Jenkins, 2010), especially since it is usually costly for the organization to provide them.

In the General Aviation (n.d.) emergency plan, most resources are provided. Surprisingly, the plan offers different resources for various hazards. For instance, in the case of fire, fire extinguishers are provided together with skilled personnel to use the equipment.

Interoperability and Collaboration

The most important yet the most challenging part of the emergency plan is usually interoperability and collaboration. Most often, companies have various departments and different personnel. Thus, to make the emergency plan successful, all sectors should collaborate. The emergency plan becomes effective when the departments in the organization collaborate to form one unit in the case of an emergency.

The airport emergency plan has a good collaboration plan with a set framework of the communication criteria. However, the emergency plan has many departments and the collaboration of all departments can be difficult.

PART B

After formulating a plan and agreeing on all the guidelines set, the next procedure that is critical for the emergency management is usually testing the plan.

Walk-Through

The process entails incorporating all stakeholders and departments going through the whole procedure and familiarizing with the issues. The process involves setting a scenario similar to reality and then responding to it without using the resources. The main facilitator coordinates the departments through every step.

In line with the airport emergency plan, the manager who will act as a facilitator can take few departments through the walk-through exercise. The facilitator makes sure that each department understands and appreciates its role. For instance, the fire department should understand how to react in case of different situations.

Talk-Through Exercise

Nowadays, most people take the art of talking for granted, but research has shown that one can obtain much information just from conservations with other peers. They share and interchange ideas concerning different topics. One of the best ways of testing a plan is for different departments to organize a talk-through exercise. The organization can organize a conference or conduct a meeting between different stakeholders. The whole process is advantageous to the organization since the management and the emergency department can evaluate the loopholes in the emergency plan.

The administration of the airport can set a conference that incorporates all the relevant stakeholders who can talk through the whole emergency plan. By doing this, the organization can be able to determine the loopholes in the emergency plan.

Table-Top Exercise

In most cases, formalizing something makes it boring, and people lack the aspect of the innovation. Table-top exercise entails taking individuals in a stress-free environment where they do not feel oppressed with the kind of atmosphere. It enables the stakeholders to be able to view the whole idea in a positive manner, thus making the process of finding solutions quicker. Though the table-top and talk-through exercises may seem similar, the former presupposes the simulated circumstance. Thus, the management can organize the staff working at the airport to have a discussion where they can analyze hazardous events that have already happened or some imagined crisis situation.

Field Exercise

Field exercise entails imitating the emergency, creating a controlled hazard according to the emergency plan, and examining the response. The whole process will help the organization to test the plan. For instance, the airport can perform emergency drills, for instance, in the case of imagined fire, and show staff members and emergency department what they should do to protect the members of the flight or even the whole airport.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Most of the companies in the world have many personnel members, either tourists or locals. Thus, companies and government institutions such as airports and train stations should incorporate such emergency plans to reduce the number of causalities in the case of crisis. Although the probability of a crisis happening is next to zero, the small remaining percentage can cause many causalities. An emergency plan is sensitive to any organization whether small or big. However, the emergency plan is not just a document, as it entails a number of things, including the personnel and resources. The plan under analysis can be considered effective because it adheres to seven features that every plan should have. Moreover, the plan can be easily tested using four techniques, namely field, talk-through, walk-through, or table-top exercises.