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68 Q: What size airport is best suited to use the tool? A: The tool has been designed to serve any size or type of airport. In beta testing, it worked well for two large hubs, two medium hubs, a small hub, a non-hub primary, and a reliever airport. In general, more customization via editing the Microsoft Word version of the terminal incident response plan produced by the tool will be needed by larger airports. Q: Does the tool produce a complete and fully functional terminal incident response plan? A: Yes and no. The tool will generate a NIMS-compliant complete plan for your airport; how- ever, the plan produced should undergo a thorough airport review, training, and tabletop exercises prior to being considered fully functional. Q: In what format is the basic terminal incident response plan produced by the tool? A: It is a multi-chapter document in Microsoft Word (2010 or 2007). Q: How long will it take to create a terminal incident response plan from the tool? A: Depending on the complexity of the airport and how knowledgeable the staff member(s) preparing the plan are, it should take 30 minutes to 2 hours to use the tool and create the basic plan. Q: How long will it take to customize the basic plan to create the final, fully developed terminal incident response plan? A: For smaller airports, the basic plan produced by the tool can serve as is as the final terminal response plan. For larger airports, the customization processâediting the Word document version of the basic planâshould take 1 to 3 hours, depending on the extent of the changes and complexity of the site-specific information that the airport wishes to add. Q: How long is the process to build a terminal incident response plan? A: The best estimate for the development of a basic plan using the tool is 0.5 to 2.0 person- hours. The best estimate for the conversion (customization) of the basic plan to a fully developed, final terminal incident response plan is 0 to 3.0 person-hours. Altogether, the process from start to finished final plan is estimated to take 0.5 to 5.0 person-hours. Q: Is there a need for specialized information technology (IT) folks to use the tool? A: Probably not, depending on the ability of the airport emergency manager, terminal man- ager, operations supervisor, or planner to use Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. Q: Can the tool be used by itself when an airport has an emergency for which it does not have a plan or has an outdated plan? A P P E N D I X D Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions 69 A: The tool was not designed or intended to be used as a plan or as a substitute for a plan. How- ever, in an emergency when an airport does not have an existing plan, the tool can quickly produce a plan including basic standard operating procedures (SOPs) and checklists. Note, however, that plans should be developed, trained, and exercised before being used in an actual emergency. Q: Would the tool and resulting terminal incident response plan be legally binding on an air- port to the exclusion of other existing emergency preparedness documents or plans? A: No. The tool would provide structure and guidelines that may stand alone, supplement, or be used in concert with existing plans. Q: Does the plan produced by the tool contain any security-sensitive information (SSI)? A: No, not unless the user inserts SSI text in one of the textboxes. If a user wants to be sure, the user should get the federal security director (FSD) and airport security coordinator (ASC) to review the plan. It is good practice to involve both the FSD and ASC as stakeholders in the development of terminal incident response plans. Q: Isnât repopulation just a matter of reversing the evacuation or shelter in place? A: No, the sequence of actions and the responsibilities are different. For example, the terminal will have to have a structural, electrical, and mechanical evaluation before repopulation can begin. Furthermore, TSA and airport security will have to inspect and sanitize the secure portions of the terminal before any other employees or passengers can enter. Q: Do only airport employees have roles and responsibilities in a terminal incident response plan? A: Not usually. Using the toolâs inputs and the capabilities to edit the resulting Word document, the user can specify the roles and create action lists and checklists for any agency, airline, tenant, or mutual aid partner involved in terminal incident response. For this reason, these stakeholders should be involved in customizing and reviewing the plan. Q: How can the plan be customized to deal with site-specific details? A: There are three ways to customize the terminal incident plans produced by the tool: 1. By the data entered in the data blanks on data-entry pages of the tool, 2. By entering blocks of custom text in the textboxes while using the tool, and 3. By editing the resulting Word document. Q: Should the resulting terminal incident plan be incorporated directly into the airport emer- gency plan (AEP)? A: This is a choice that can usually be made by the airport. If the plan is incorporated directly into the AEP, any changes to the plan must be approved by the FAA compliance inspector. If the terminal incident response plan is not incorporated directly into the AEP, each perti- nent part of it should be referenced within the plan. If in doubt, an airport should consult its FAA compliance inspector. Some airports have found it more practical or effective to have a separate terminal manual or a customer services manual. Q: If the terminal incident response plan produced by the tool is incorporated into the AEP, will it be fully compliant with FAA Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C? A: The plan developed by this tool is not required by FAA Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C. The tool was designed on the assumption that the National Incident Management System
70 Airport Terminal Incident Response Planning (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) would be used in any response to any inci- dent involving the terminal. The tool generates basic checklists and SOPs, but an airport may wish to edit the Word document to expand on them to fit site specifics. When in doubt about compliance with Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C, an airport should consult with its FAA compliance inspector. Q: What stakeholders should be involved in using the tool, customizing the Word document, and reviewing the resulting terminal incident response plan? A: Whether the terminal incident response plan is incorporated into the AEP or made a stand- alone plan, the same type of stakeholders suggested by FAA Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C should be involved. This includes units within the airport (senior management, terminal managers, emergency managers, operations managers, planners, ARFF, law enforcement, maintenance, and engineering). It also includes airlines, concessionaires, tenants, federal agencies, state agencies, and mutual aid partners. Q: Can the tool be used as a training aid? A: Yes. The whole package can be given to any stakeholder for training on terminal incident responses. Q: What is the relationship between a terminal incident response plan and an airportâs drill and exercise program? A: It is recommended that elements of the terminal incident response plan frequently be incor- porated into tabletop exercises and even in full-scale functional exercises. Q: Will the tool run on a Mac computer? A: No. Q: Can the tool be used on iPads, smartphones, or tablets? A: It can be used on tablets and smartphones that have Microsoft Office applications. It cannot be used on iPads or iPhones. Q: Is there an app available? A: No, there is not an ACRP Airport Terminal Incident Response Plan application available. Q: Why arenât there Mac, iPad, iPhone, and apps available? A: The scope of the project only called for a tool to run on a PC, and the work plan and scope approved by the panel only called for a tool developed on Microsoft Excel. Q: Will the tool run on Office 2007 and Office 2010? A: Yes. The userâs manual and instructions imbedded in the tool allow the user to cope with differences between Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. Q: Is the toolâs Excel code open source? A: No. It is locked. Q: How was the tool tested prior to release? A: The tool was tested by the research team. Then it was tested by the ACRP project panel. Finally, it was beta tested at seven airports ranging from relievers to large hubs in size. A final test by the panel was completed before the tool was approved for release. After each test, adjustments were made to make the tool more user friendly.
Frequently Asked Questions 71 Q: Where did the information and models come from that the research team used to develop the tool? A: Thirty-six airports provided more than 100 documents, such as airport emergency plans, checklists, and SOPs, and these documents were analyzed using process mapping to deter- mine the most common patterns of effective response. This information was combined with an exhaustive literature review of terminal incidents in the past 10 years. Q: Is any special training required prior to using the tool? A: No. The tool is very intuitive, and instructions are imbedded. Any moderately experienced airport emergency manager, operations supervisor, planner, or manager will be able to han- dle the inputs to the tool and customize the resulting Word document. Q: Does the tool assume any particular organizational structure at an airport? A: No. However, it does assume that the NIMS and ICS will be used as the basic organizational system for managing any response.
