Cranfield University

Short course/CPD

Hazards and Evidence Awareness for Air Accident Responders

Course date: 26 Sep 2012  - 27 Sep 2012

Course overview

Additional Dates: 10th-11th April 2013 and 25th-26th September 2013

Air accidents present a formidable range of challenges to organisations charged with providing a response. Such accidents can be hugely variable in scale and nature, occurring in almost any location at any time of day. On occasions, the accidents may involve a major international response. Organisations attending the scene undertake a wide range of tasks including first responder activities, accident investigation, airport/regional emergency planning and response, aircraft recovery and transportation and environmental remediation.  The range of tasks in response to an aircraft accident are designed to rescue survivors, identify victims, protect the public and conduct appropriate investigations into the accident causes. Whilst conducting these tasks, all organisations are required to provide appropriate health and safety management arrangements for their own personnel, whilst also ensuring that they co-operate and co-ordinate operations with other organisations working at the scene.

Personnel responding to air accident sites can be exposed to a wide range of health and safety hazards. These hazards – physical, material, biological and psychological – have diverse characteristics and pose varying risks, depending on exposure. To manage these risks, organisations must ensure that they have installed proper safety management systems to identify these hazards, assess risks and implement appropriate control measures.

International investigative authorities are increasingly aware of the health and safety risks that accident site attendees are exposed to and are beginning to limit entry to hazardous sites to only those personnel who have completed hazard awareness training.

In addition to managing safety responses, organisations should give due consideration to the evidence that may exist at the scene of the accident and those tasked with collecting and analysing it. This evidence may be required for a variety of purposes; most commonly for use in the identification of victims and in the determination of the reasons why the accident occurred.

This two-day course provides awareness training and knowledge in both site safety work practices and in evidence protection and preservation activities. The course will include theory sessions along with various group activities/ exercises.