Aerodrome Works Safety: Filling in the Gaps
Australia’s standards provide a good framework for managing the risks associated with aerodrome works, but they require significant and comprehensive digestion to understand them. This month, I’ve already touched on the challenges related to writing standards, and this topic showcases the style of regulation that sets some boundaries and parameters within which an aerodrome operator is expected to build a process.
In today’s post, I would like to share how I used to train aerodrome work safety officers (WSOs) on the management of aerodrome works.
Fleshing Out the Standards
While there is no table setting out the different categories of aerodrome works in the Part 139 MOS, the second standard (15.01 (2)) provides some big hints. Therefore, I like to discuss the standards for aerodrome works safety in terms of five different categories.
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The standards are written in a way that suggests you start on the right and work your way to the left, stopping when you find the most suitable category, but most people start on the left.
Time-limited works are airside works that meet all of the following requirements (15.03):
no disruption to normal aircraft operations
the movement area is restored to normal safety standards
all hazards are removed within 30 minutes.
A dispensation regarding NOTAM requirements gives you a slight distinction between time-limited works that take less than 10 minutes to remove hazards and those that take up to 130 minutes. I like to think of these works as ninja works - you get in and out without anyone noticing. As the note in Part 139 states, these jobs include things like mowing, lighting maintenance, crack sealing, etc.
I lump the other categories together as major works. These jobs typically involve outside contractors and bigger equipment. This includes a wide variety of work, including serious pavement repairs, surface overlays, lighting system upgrades and installation (trenching), and facility construction. Preparing an MOWP should be considered the default, but allowances are made for emergency works and the aerodrome operator’s decision to close the aerodrome.
In the first instance, I expect emergency works to involve an already unserviceable area on the aerodrome. Of course, this might not always be the case, but if the area is still open, then how urgent the repair be?
Closing an aerodrome for works is a decision for the aerodrome operator. The decision would be a balancing act between disruption to operations and risk management. The existence of this category comes from two advance notice requirements in the Part 139 MOS (see 15.01 (3) & (8)), and I would not consider satisfying one as automatically meeting the other.
Sometimes, it might be hard to identify into which category a particular works project falls. For example, yesterday’s post described a situation where the works were urgent, but the aerodrome was closed. As described in the report, these works were emergency works.
Works under a Method of Working Plan (MOWP) are the gold standard. Personally, I recommend the development of an MOWP for all major works categories to ensure you have your ducks in a row. It’s not just the document but the process one goes through that helps establish a successful works project within the aerodrome’s overall safety management system.
Process & Practice
Australian standards relating to the larger work safety management process are focused on the MOWP and the WSO. However, for a well-structured discussion of works planning and conduct, PANS-Aerodromes offers more detail.
With notes of risk and change management, the PANS breaks it down into the following elements:
Works planning
Safety assessment
Works authorisation
Sharing information
Worksite establishment & return to normal operations
Works oversight & control
Each of these elements should be present for all types of aerodrome works, although they will vary in scope and detail with the complexity of the works program. By way of example, let’s take a look at these processes within the context of a straightforward works task and a complex works project.
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The role of the WSO is worth diving into a little more but I am going to save that for another day.
