The Relevance of an Airport Safety Scorecard

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An airport safety scorecard is a useful tool that airport administrators can use to come up with an extensive evaluation of security protocols implemented. Check additional information about airport safety scorecard.

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people and destroyed the World Trade Center, security in airports has been tightened significantly. These places are common targets for terrorism and crimes because of the large influx of people who go through these places every day. In response to this, airport administrators of major airports have implemented stricter security measures and invested millions in security equipment. To help them evaluate the effectiveness of security measures observed, an airport safety scorecard is usually used.

In the context of aviation operations, the word "airport security" refers to all methods or techniques, which are implemented to protect not only the airport itself, but also the aircrafts that land here. In a nutshell, airport security serves a two-fold purpose of protecting the airport from terrorism attacks or crimes and protecting an aircraft from attack. Prevention of harm to aircraft, passengers, and crewmembers and providing support to the country's national security and counter-terrorism policies are considered the primary goals of airport security, as declared by the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

Many tragic airline tragedies that killed several people in the past resulted from the failure of airport security personnel to detect bombs, or weapons before terrorists are able to board the plane. Among all airline catastrophes, the onboard bomb that took down Air India Flight 182 back in 1985 was considered the most deadly. 329 people were called from that single incident alone. To prevent similar occurrences from happening again, airport administrators have invested millions of dollars on the purchase of state-of-the-art explosive detection machines and X-ray machines to screen passengers and their carry on and checked-in baggage. In some countries, like the United States, highly trained individuals are also hired to act as covert screeners of passengers who may be in the possession of bombs or other deadly weapons. The duties carried out by these people supplement the function of detection equipment that is in use.

Major airports worldwide have implemented tougher security regulations, especially after the 9/11 attacks. These include limiting the number and types of items that passengers are allowed to carry on board. Now, passengers are screened individually and are required to present to airport security personnel any government-issued photo ID as proof of identification. It is an ongoing priority for airport administrators to make security screening protocols more efficient so as not to unnecessarily inconvenience passengers.

Security measures observed in airports should regularly be evaluated to determine the degree of their effectiveness. An airport safety scorecard is particularly useful for this purpose. Through this tool, security efforts are assessed in terms of financial perspective, customer perspective, security perspective, and efficiency perspective. Metrics under the financial perspective commonly include such metrics as compensation for airport security personnel, training costs, and cost of explosive detection systems. On the other hand, number of thefts and baggage loss fall under the customer perspective. Metrics included in the security perspective may include the number of security checks and surveillance cameras. Lastly, efficiency metrics may include number of suspicious cases and length of time of security checks.

If you are interested in airport safety scorecard, check this link to find out more about airport safety metric. Also, you can check other articles in BSC Implementation category.

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