Airport Surveillance: 5 Ways to Manage and Protect Your Workforce

Around 6.1million people¹ work in airports around the globe. That’s a lot of people to manage and protect, especially in high-security, high-pressure settings. Here’s how your security and surveillance solution can help make this task easier.

1. Maintain restricted access

Maintenance teams, fuel crews, baggage handlers, aircrew, and many other airport personnel must continuously be identified and authenticated regarding zone access for security and safety.

With an open-architecture security and surveillance platform, you can integrate multiple technologies to ensure the face on-screen matches the ID card (employee or guest) used. The system can inform the operator that the individual in question has the correct training, security clearance, or work order to enter the zone they seek to access. Technologies and data can include:

• access control
• contractor and delivery rosters
• HR systems
• video analytics, such as facial recognition

Video analytics can be configured to alert that a person other than the ID card holder is detected, preventing tailgating incidents or ID misuse.

2. Ensure worker wellbeing

Using heavy machinery, managing fuel processes, carrying out runway repairs, and dealing with disruptive or dangerous passengers pose potential risks to workers yet are part of everyday operations.

Integrations to ensure worker safety include person-down sensors for lone workers or body-worn cameras for security teams, personal alarms, radio systems, and mobile devices. Pairing this information with alarms and mapping means help can be dispatched to whoever needs it quickly.

3. Coordinate tasks

Solutions, including web access, cloud-based evidence sharing and mobile applications, ensure people outside the control room – from security guards, maintenance teams and passenger support staff to external personnel, including emergency responders – can securely access vital information relevant to their duties and roles via mobile devices and remote offices.

Some of these solutions will also enable you to assign and confirm the fulfilment of tasks (whether linked to emergency scenarios or day-to-day activities) for increased efficiency. Whichever solution you choose, ensure your system allows you to set explicit system-level access permissions and authenticate users.

4. Enforce safety protocols

Analytics and AI are often discussed regarding security but can also be invaluable health and safety tools for airports. For instance, virtual perimeters can be established to create clear zones around dangerous equipment and processes, with automated audio warnings triggered if a breach occurs.

You can also use video analytics to detect other safety concerns, such as failure to wear appropriate PPE. In addition to helping you detect safety issues in real-time, you can use analytics to rapidly search video footage for event types to collate materials suitable for worker training.  

5. Provide clear emergency instructions

Your workforce needs to know how to implement emergency procedures quickly, efficiently, and consistently across an airport, whether in response to medical assistance requests, severe maintenance issues, suspected security breaches, fire, or malicious attacks. On-screen guidance (workflows) is invaluable here.

Based on your standard operator procedures and ability to adapt to live data from integrated systems and devices, workflows instruct your operators and field-based teams (if using remote solutions) on the ‘next best action’ based on the scenario. This avoids duplication of effort and optimises your workforce.

To ease pressure on your teams, automated responses can be triggered, including dispatch notifications (issued to mobile devices of relevant teams and individuals) for everyday tasks or, in the case of a critical incident, issue emergency announcements and activate evacuation route lighting.

¹ https://www.oliverwymanforum.com/mobility/2023/jun/airport-evolution-travel-trends-by-2050