TO assess their readiness and capacity to respond to accidents or any incident, the Eugene F. Correia International Airport conducted a full scale emergency exercise on Friday, March 15.

Safety and Compliance Manager, William Senasee, said that these exercises are mandatory and conducted every two years in accordance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
The emergency exercise, facilitated by Captain Jack McGovern, Fireman/Captain from Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA, simulated an event in which an ATR72 Aircraft, a type used by LIAT and Caribbean Airlines, overran and caught on fire at the end of, the runway.

It was designed to test the response from the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), Airport Security and first responders such as the Guyana Fire Service, Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Police Force, ambulance and medical services, as well as major city hospitals, including the Georgetown Public Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Woodlands Hospital.

There was full cooperation and excellent response from these agencies, according to McGovern who said he was pleased with the results. He added that, in years past, the exercise dealt with one specific issue, whether it be a mass casualty incident, a bomb threat or a fire. However, this year, they tested OAI’s response to not just mass casualty incident management, but also an unannounced bomb threat exercise at the terminal building with nine hostages.

“I am pleased to say that not only did OAI perform exceptionally well with the mass casualty exercise. They also performed exceptionally well in responding to the additional bomb threat”, McGovern stated.
He pointed out that the biggest improvement this year, was communication. He noted, “We’ve always had issues with communication in the past and we seem to have improved significantly in that aspect this year. And I’m speaking communication in terms of team work and integration between agencies. We have improved significantly, causing our result to be better than the last.”

He encouraged the participants, noting that even though their response was great, they must continue striving to be better.
Also witnessing the exercise, was the Director General of GCAA, Colonel (Ret’d) Egbert Field. He too was impressed at the coordination between agencies but cited room for improvement.

“I think this was a well-run exercise. This airport must conduct an exercise of this type at least once a year to fulfill its requirement in terms of certification. It was nicely executed and the coordinators will now sit and look over the details to see if there is any aspect to be looked at… The response time was good, but could have been better. We will look at the stop watches and work on the necessary improvements”, Field said.

He advised the participants to look at areas which can be improved on, and continue reading and studying on what role they have to play to improve.
“Should there be an incident, there must be no doubts about the competency of the airport. All the groups must come to together as one coordinated team. There might be some weaknesses in a particular unit, but those will be looked at when we get to the aftermath. We will look at which department could really come up more to standard, because a chain is as strong as its weakest link, so there must be a seamless flow”, Field posited.

He also thanked the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health, who supported the exercise and ensured its success.
The exercise also featured a mock media briefing, in which personnel asked relevant questions pertaining to the aforementioned incidents.