Edinburgh Airport has implemented Everbridge’s Critical Event Management platform, to improve efficiency and streamline communications during emergencies.
The system will replace and simplify multiple manual processes, speeding up the effectiveness of communication across operations from the emergency services team through to airlines, retail units and local agencies.
The airport had already made a commitment to improving critical communications as part of a focus on using innovation to streamline operations and enhance passenger journeys. To assess the effectiveness of its existing critical communications infrastructure, it undertook a review based in part on recent critical events.
“There were two incidents that helped to shape our review of critical communications at the airport,” said Myles Grima, senior operations and resilience manager, airport operations and assurance at Edinburgh Airport.
“The first was a tram accident on our campus. While it thankfully only resulted in minor injuries, it caused disruption and restrictions to the tram service from Edinburgh city centre to the airport. We also experienced a major Scottish Power outage that affected the airport, and this is always a threat to the smooth running of operations.
“Finally, we organized a counter-terrorism exercise involving over 20 organizations and 400 people. These three events gave us a huge amount of insight and enabled us to consider how technology could be used to improve our response overall.”
The main aim was to move away from the multiple processes that were previously being used to cascade information to different groups and instead migrate to just one platform. Edinburgh Airport selected Everbridge’s Critical Event Management platform because it has the ability to rapidly locate employees at risk and, crucially, will provide the airport with actionable risk intelligence and help with incident preparation and response.
“Previously our challenge was getting the right information to the right people,” explained Grima. “To be more effective, we needed to improve efficiency and eliminate duplication. We are now doing this with Everbridge, and we can now accurately communicate with all the people who work on-site in every operational area and manage this through a single, integrated view, to mitigate the impact of critical events.”
During phase one, Edinburgh Airport is using Everbridge to target emergency services, the airlines that are serving the airport, on-site retail outlets, and support agencies, including Transport Scotland and Edinburgh City Council, which are involved with resilience planning. This will enable it to automate its management of critical incidents ranging from an aircraft accident through to the challenges posed by snowstorms and extreme weather events.
The next stage for the airport will be phase two, Airport Control Futures, which will address technology such as perimeter security and fire alarms, and how these can be integrated into Everbridge.
