Aircraft Accident Emergency Planning And Emergency Management

摘要

Clearly, an accident is an unplanned or unscheduled event, or is the end result of a combination of events and circumstances, which usually produces unintended suffering, injury, death or property damage. Those who are involved in the operation of an airport or airline always need to be on their guard to lessen the effect of such a calamity on their customers, the public, their organisation, and just as importandy, themselves and dieir staff. The problems that need to be considered and resolved by an organisation commence at the time of the impact and may continue for many years. There is only one proven way to combat the effects of the event, a well formulated and accepted company Emergency Response Plan supported by strong leadership. The heart of this plan or any set of procedures is a quick and accurate response to a given set of circumstances, produced by preplanning and demonstrated by exercise and practice. However, just as management of an airline's operations is by human beings, management of an accident and its aftermath is by people and is therefore subject to human frailties. The complexity and sophistication of the equipment used by an airline are unimportant unless the individual is prepared to deal with the unexpected, the system failure. That is the key to successful emergency response planning, planning for the unexpected, and definitely the unwanted. The catchwords to successful mitigation of any accident aftermadi are still command, control, and coordination. Neverthe-less, we should still bear in mind the thought that carefully planned training and the prudent (and sometimes reluctant) allocation of resources for that training are strong factors in the minds of management. However, if sufficient finance and resources are not committed to the planning, training, and exercising processes, the organisation will risk a less-than-optimum response, loss of company image, and perhaps bankruptcy. In some countries, incidents and serious incidents were being investigated long before ICAO formalised the requirement in 1994. However, even now, many investigations are not required to address the success (or otherwise) of the emergency response, and whether it was effective in reducing casualties. Indeed, Annex 13 requires only a "brief description" of the rescue operation, etc., so in an investigation of an "incident," this may not be mentioned at all. Incident investigations are invaluable in assisting relevant au-thorities, companies, etc., to reduce the likelihood of an accident, or to minimise casualties in the event of an accident occurring. For example, an awareness of how an airport authority may have reacted to an aircraft emergency would certainly assist in reviews of emergency plans. However, the investigation of an incident (or an accident) first needs to focus in some detail on the broader aspects of the response, with appropriate recommendations to enhance response measures. Finally, to learn from incident investigations requires those in authority to be prepared to change, and this can be difficult to achieve. However, failure to heed the results of investigations will invariably lead to "safety stagnation"; nothing will change, lessons will not be learned, incidents will lead to accidents and increased numbers of casualties.