Introduction
Airports play a crucial role in the world economy, and for sustainability in the airport sector, risks and vulnerabilities must be reduced. Risk reduction presents one of the main objectives that transport safety policies pursue. Just like in other modes of transport, in aviation, risk assessment and risk management are crucial aspects that need to be handled. In formulating and implementing the safety policies, the risks must be assessed and specified first. After specification and assessment, the risks are then analyzed to help in balancing the efforts of minimizing them and weighing their achievability (Distefano and Salvatore, 2015). Risk assessment in airports includes the interpretation of the data presented by management on the frequent threats based on the rarity of events happening. Assessment of risk is crucial in defining the types of policies to be formulated and implemented towards the reduction of risks. In civil aviation, safety and risks are crucial aspects, especially for airports that are multifunctional systems. Richmond International Airport faces threats and vulnerabilities daily, and in curbing these threats, risk assessment and management is critical. This report paper provides the risk analysis for this airport as well as recommendations on how these risks can be reduced.
OVERVIEW
Risks resulting in the airport may lead to hazardous destruction of the airport infrastructure. Risks have an impact on all the infrastructure in the Richmond International Airport. These components of the infrastructure include; the runways, area control centers, approach, apron, towers, passenger terminus, refueling section, and weather station. (Distefano and Salvatore, 2015). For instance, in the event of the intentional threats presented by malicious people, the infrastructure can be damaged. Terrorists, for instance, pose a massive threat to all the infrastructure of the airport because, through bombings, this airport can lose all the critical components of the industry.
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Natural threats like tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes also pose a considerable threat to the infrastructure at Richmond International Airport. Earthquakes can be highly destructive, and in recent years, the cases of earthquakes have intensified around the world. A high-magnitude earthquake could be highly disastrous to the building and other infrastructure in the airport. For instance, when an earthquake strikes, weather station, and control towers can be destroyed. These two components of infrastructure play a crucial role in the running of any airport. For Richmond International Airport, this could lead to the deaths of thousands of travelers and loss of numerous planes as well as other infrastructure.
Accidental threats also present a considerable risk to the airport. Mechanical failures or unintentional accidents result from deviation from the standard practice of the profession. For airports, an accidental threat is presented by the failure of airplane engines, which could occur before take-off or after the take-off. When the failure occurs before take-off, minimal losses are associated with it. His does not impact the infrastructure. However, when the failure occurs after take-off, this could lead to fatal accidents. The airplane, as a component of the airport’s infrastructure, is lost.
Consequences and Level of impact
Any occurrence of an accident as a result of these three forms of threats could be disastrous, not only to the state but to the whole world. Even though most of its operations are within the US, RIA’s threats affect the whole world. The US, however, is more impacted by the effects of a threat in the airport than any other nation. For instance, when an airplane falls, the majority of fatalities will be American people, leading to the loss of prestigious American lives (Radvanovsky & McDougall, 2019). Again, earthquakes or malicious threats in the airport could ground operations in most parts of the US. For instance, an earthquake could destroy control towers leading to an alteration of travels from and into the airport. This condition will eventually affect the American economy adversely.
Considerations for threats
The most common threats in this industry are natural, malicious, and accidental threats. Some of these threats can easily be minimized through policies and strategies. The malicious threats are motivated by a series of events, most of which could be evaded. First, inadequate security checks and smuggling of commodities into the airport could make terrorists have a link to attack the airport (Farahani, Kachoee, & Kachoee, 2018). Additionally, corruption among security personnel could encourage malicious people to do evil acts like attacking the airport’s infrastructure. Accidental threats are caused by incompetence and lack of care while handling machinery. Increased human activity in the airport could also lead to earthquakes, which could be disastrous.
Legal Requirements
The US government stipulates strict measures to ensure airport safety for both cargo, passengers, and crew. The Airport Security Safety Act, for instance, requires all airports to have strict measures to ensure the security and safety of the airports (Transportation Security Administration, 2018). These regulations are geared towards reducing the risks associated with a particular airport. For Richmond International Airport, the development of measures curbing these threats must be in line with the FAA guidelines.
RISK ASSESSMENT
In the Richmond International Airport, the risks listed include; the natural causes like tornadoes, earthquakes, and earthquakes, malicious threats like terrorism and smuggling, and the accidental threats like mechanical failures. Based on the Probability and Impact matrix provided, the various risk scores of these threats can be obtained.
|
Risk Matrix |
|||||
|
Negligible (1) |
Minor (2) |
Limited (3) |
Critical (4) |
Catastrophic (5) |
|
| Highly Likely (5) |
5 |
10 |
15 |
20 |
25 |
| Likely (4) |
4 |
8 |
12 |
16 |
20 |
| Possible (3) |
3 |
6 |
9 |
12 |
15 |
| Unlikely (2) |
2 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
10 |
| Remote/Rare (1) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Using the Risk Matrix presented above; the following risk scores are obtained for the listed risks;
| Risk | Probability | Impact | Risk Score |
| Natural risks like earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Accidental Risks | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| Terrorism | 2 | 4 | 8 |
From this risk assessment table, then it is evident that accidental risks have the most significant score implies they should be handled through several measures by the management (Renfroe & Smith, 2016). The terrorism threat should also be handled with care, as its score implies that its occurrence is likely and could have a catastrophic impact on the airport.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Richmond International Airport should put several measures to curb these two rampant risks, the accidental threats, and the terrorism threat. However, these measures must be both sustainable and economical for management.
I recommend that the management should put in place more strict security measures within the airport. These measures should cover both the staff and the passengers. Again the airport management should increase the security personnel, which will ensure that these two problems are solved. Security personnel is cheap to hire as compared to other airport workers, and for this reason, hiring money security staff will help in mitigating these two problems. First, in the management of accidental threats, it is evident that most accidental occurrences within the airport are due to negligence of duty. Enhanced security is crucial because all the workers will be closely monitored during their performance of duties. Whether it is cleaning the runways or checking the airplane engines before set-off, the security personnel will ensure that all these roles are performed by the assigned people. Even though natural threats are not highly likely to occur, their occurrence could be disastrous to the airport’s infrastructure. To curb this threat, the management should brace for it by putting in place systems that can predict the occurrence of these threats.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The risk assessment report for Richmond International Airport was successful. After an effective study and evaluation of the various risks facing the airport, the risks were then characterized as negligible, minor, critical, limited, or catastrophic, and then assigned the various values as shown in the Risk Matrix provided. Their probabilities were then multiplied with their impact upon occurring to get the risk scores for the individual risks. After evaluation, the recommendations regarding how to prevent the risks have been provided in the report.
From this evaluation of Richmond International Airport, it is evident, the highest threat facing the airport is Accidental Risks, which not only has a high possibility of happening but also threatens to a large extent, the existence of the airport. For instance, an accidental threat like oil spillage or engine failure may not occur often, but their occurrence will lead to disastrous impacts on the airport. Even with these possible threats, Richmond International Airport does not face highly scoring threats, which implies that the threats experienced in the airport are less likely to happen, but their impact on the airport are disastrous.
References
Distefano, Natalia, and Salvatore Leonardi. "Risk assessment procedure for civil airport." International Journal for Traffic and Transport Engineering 4.1 (2015): 62-75. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282807386_Risk_assessment_procedure_for_civil_airport
Farahani, G. J., Kachoee, M. H. A., & Kachoee, M. A. A. (2018). Vulnerability Assessment of the Critical Infrastructure against Man-Made Threats: Case Study: International Civilian Airports. Industrial Engineering & Management Systems , 17 (1), 136-145. http://www.iemsjl.org/journal/article.php?code=60310
Radvanovsky, R., & McDougall, A. (2019). Critical infrastructure: Homeland security and emergency preparedness (3rd ed.). Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781466503465/cfi/0!/4/4@0.00:0.00.
Renfroe, N. A., & Smith, J. L. (2016, August 08). Threat / vulnerability assessments and risk analysis. Retrieved April 22, 2019, from https://www.wbdg.org/resources/threat-vulnerability-assessments-and-risk-analysis
Transportation Security Administration. (2018, April 25). Mission. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.tsa.gov/about/tsa-mission
