Question

Denver International Airport Emergency Preparedness Program:

The Denver International Airport (DIA) Emergency Preparedness Program is an extensive and collaborative management system for one of the busiest airline hubs in the country. DIA’s Airport Emergency Plan (AEP) is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), while also implementing additional guidance programs for employee and passenger preparedness. DIA has employed a group of full-time staff that solely work on emergency preparedness training, testing, and improvements, as well as a team for immediate action in the case of an emergency situation. The airport also has developed a strong collaborative relationship between airport personnel and local first responders, including Denver Police and Fire Departments and the Denver Health Paramedics Division, as a part of their efforts in improving internal and external communication. Additionally, internal and external audits are performed frequently, with the citizens from the City and County of Denver electing the auditor. From the Performance Audit conducted in late 2015, some improvements were needed to ensure the standardized emergency plan complies with federal guidelines and expectations outlined by the public/stakeholders. While DIA has some documentation processes in place, such as After Action Reports and Improvement Plans, the improvements suggested by the auditor included the prioritization of creating accessible and formal documentation for decision-making processes related to emergency training and management, as well as improvements in tracking costs related to emergency preparedness and developing official documentation for a response plan. The airport has special departments for the implementation of their Snow and Ice and Tornado emergency contingency plans. Because of the nature of airports, the emergency response programs were designed to prioritize the loss of life/human disasters, so the response plan is not heavily focused on mitigating adverse environmental impacts. This is interesting to me because the use of energy, water, space, and natural resources required to keep an airport running is exponentially greater than other industries.

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Answer 1

The article is about emergency preparedness program by Denver international airport (DIA). Denver international airport implements guidelines of federal aviation administration. A good think of DIA program is having a full time staff for employees training and improvements. Airport authority also builds good relationship with first responders such as fire department, paramedics division and police.

It is also found that auditor suggests that there are some improvements required by DIA for emergency preparedness plan. Emergency plan still misses some areas to comply with guidelines of federal aviation administration. A formal and accessible documentation is suggested for DIA for emergency preparedness plan for emergency management and for emergency training. DIA is also unable to track costs that are a very crucial aspect for emergency planning as resources must be used optimally. Another major drawback of emergency preparedness program of DIA is not focusing on adverse environmental impacts as the program prioritizes human disaster and loss of human. Negligence towards negative environmental impact caused by using resources such as energy, water and other natural resources is a serious drawback of DIA emergency program. These issues thus, should be addressed. DIA emergency preparedness program needs to improve its ability to track costs and to measure environmental impacts of emergency plan being implemented. DIA should ensure that environmental resources must be protected while dealing with emergency situations. Formal documentation of emergency program is also required from DIA. These considerations can improve DIA ability to comply with Federal aviation administration’s guidelines.