Wednesday, 17 July 2024
SECURITY CULTURE
The Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs) were amended to include provisions for Security Culture, this amendment affected all security regulations i.e. Parts 108,109, 110, 111, and 114. It affects Known Consignors, Regulated Agents, Air Carriers, Airports, Catering Companies, Screener Organisations, Training Organisations and many more. The main aim of Security Culture is to ensure that all organisations involved adopt into their organisational culture a security-focused approach at all levels.
When implementing the Security Culture, organisations must:
- Continuously train their staff, not just in regulatory training but in any other training that enhances their knowledge on security.
- Constantly communicate with their staff on any security incidents, threats and developments to ensure that their knowledge is current.
- mplement a Just Culture system to encourage staff to report any security incidents without adverse repercussions.
- Inculcate vigilance in the staff to be able to challenge/question anyone when not following the right procedures.
The benefits of implementing a Security Culture are that you will have:
- Staff that is well informed and will in return protect the business and its assets.
- Staff that takes responsibility for security processes and that will lead to lower incidents and non-compliances.
At Professional Aviation Services we have included in our checklists, that we use to audit our clients, questions about the Security Culture. The checklist tries to ascertain if the culture has been drafted, approved and implemented. We also have random interviews with staff to measure their knowledge about important security aspects of the operation, this is done to continuously improve security. Should we identify any shortcomings in the understanding of a particular subject, we conduct workshops to address those shortcomings.
We implore all in the industry to implement the Security Culture for a safer and more secure aviation industry.
By Elliot Molemi