Incorporating ADA and Functional Needs in Emergency Exercises (2018)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

14 This chapter presents the interview findings that bear directly on emergency planning and exercises. Data from the airports is given first, followed by the corresponding information from the airline interviews. Emergency Planning and Exercises Data Does your organization’s emergency plan specifically identify the different categories of DAFN support and needed resources? About half of the airports have explicit provisions for DAFN persons in their airport emergency plan (AEP). Table 3 presents the responses to whether provisions for assisting DAFN persons are in the plans. Most of the 12 airports that do include DAFN in their AEPs only include it in the evacuation plan section, but FAA Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C requires “special needs” to be recognized in at least five and potentially seven parts of the AEP. Table 4 lists these requirements. The only specific part of an AEP listed in Table 4 is evacuation, which accounts for special needs appearing in most of the AEPs. Section 3-7 of 31C requires an airport to train on all aspects C H A P T E R 3 Findings Source: Lawrence Rolon. Using a tablet to communicate with a person with a hearing disability.

Findings 15 of its AEP; this implies that training for DAFN aspects be addressed in AEPs and the support- ing training plans. Only two airports mentioned this, but the question was not asked explicitly. Two airlines answered “yes,” their emergency plans include assistance to DAFN travelers. How often do you conduct emergency exercises (and what types: tabletop or full-scale and how frequently)? All of the airports reported doing at least a full-scale exercise every 3 years (every 2 years for non-U.S. airports) and a tabletop exercise at least annually. Many airports exceed these frequen- cies, doing full-scale exercises as frequently as once per year and smaller exercises as frequently as weekly. ACRP Synthesis 72 examined these frequencies in a larger sample of U.S. airports. Nearly all the airports in the present synthesis indicated recent increases or plans to increase exercise frequencies in the next year. Another trend appears to be efforts to broaden participation among airport stakeholders, particularly airlines and concessionaires. One airline reported doing a full-scale exercise twice a year and annual tabletop exercises. One airline reported doing an annual full-scale exercise and quarterly tabletop exercises as well as being heavily involved in an airport’s annual full-scale exercises. The third airline reported a minimum for four exercises (full-scale or tabletop) per year and having each of its stations do a tabletop drill once a year. Do you have a disability advisory group? This question was added after the first eight airports had been interviewed. Out of the 15 remaining airports, 7 have disability advisory committees and 8 do not. Of the eight airports that do not have such committees, two use similar local government committees and one uses an accessibility consultant to connect with DAFN advocacy groups. Section Requirement 3-4.d In AEP planning, special needs groups must be identified. 6-3-2.b.(1) There must be a fully functional alert and warning system for special needs persons. 6-3-2.c.(5) Emergency warnings must be able to reach special needs and limited English proficiency (LEP) people. 6-4-2.b.(1)(c) Public information systems must be able to reach special needs and LEP in an emergency. 6-4-2.c.(3)(b) For evacuation, procedures must be included for special needs. 6-4-2.d.(8)(g) [In an emergency, the] role of American Red Cross may involve helping special needs. 6-4-2.d.(9) [In an emergency, the] role of Social Services Agencies may involve helping special needs, restricted mobility, elderly and children. (FAA Advisory Circular 150/5200-31C Change 2) Table 4. FAA requirements for special needs groups in AEPs. Disabilities in AEP Disabilities in AEP but Plan Being Revised to Improve Disabilities not in AEP Don’t Know/ No Answer 9 3 10 1 (Smith and Haines data 2017) Table 3. Are provisions for DAFN persons in your AEP?

16 Incorporating ADA and Functional Needs in Emergency Exercises Based on the seven airports’ descriptions of their disability advisory committees, the typical committee has members of the DAFN community, representatives of DAFN advocacy groups, and airport department representatives. Some airports include airline and TSA members. Reported major benefits from working with such committees include advice on design of new construction and remodeling; identification of barriers; solutions to issues; awareness of challenges facing passengers; more realistic training and exercises; and improved two-way communication between the airport and the community. Two airlines reported having a disability advisory group. How often do you conduct emergency exercises utilizing DAFN individuals and their needed specialized equipment or animals? Table 5 summarizes the responses when the airports were asked how often DAFN individuals participated in emergency exercises. The top row indicates that 16 airports have previously had DAFN participants in emergency exercises. The other rows indicate any specific disabilities or access and functional needs of exercise participants as mentioned by the airports responding to the open-ended question. At least 4 of the 16 airports have had DAFN persons serve as observers and as participants. These data pertain to participation in the emergency exercises and do not reflect participation in emergency planning activities. When DAFN persons participate in emergency exercises, involving airlines and wheelchair vendors in drills will increase awareness of their responsibilities and may reveal gaps. Several airports in the synthesis addressed this question, noting that it had been a well-publicized issue in several recent airport evacuations. Two airports stated that, in an emergency, all parties—airport, airlines, and concessionaires—are expected to assist DAFN passengers. One airport reported monitoring situations from its emergency operations center (EOC) and dispatching airport employees to help passengers when an airline or concessionaire needs help. One airline has instituted a policy that any DAFN passenger with a companion, either a human companion or a service dog, must be accompanied by an airline, airport, or concessionaire employee at all times in the terminal. In most recent full-scale Planned in 2018 Never Any ADA or DAFN 16 2 4 Visually impaired 3 Hearing impaired 1 Cognitive impaired 0 Mobility impaired 4 Infants and children 1 Elderly 0 Service Animals 2 (Smith and Haines data 2017) Table 5. Emergency exercises including DAFN individuals (n = 22). In its 2018 triennial exercise—CRASHEX 2018—Minneapolis-Saint Paul Inter- national Airport will use an ADA-inclusive scenario that is reproduced as Appendix C. MSP has used ADA-inclusive drills and exercises for many years and reports gaining significant benefits from integrating persons with disabilities in its drills and exercises through the years. Appendix C can be found on the TRB website (www.trb.org) by searching for “ACRP Synthesis 90.”

Findings 17 One airline reported never having had DAFN participants in its exercises, one reported having them regularly as observers, and one reported rarely having such participation. Does your community incorporate the DAFN community in other emergency exercises outside of the airport? This question did not work very well in the interviews. Many airports answered that they did not know about the exercise practices of the surrounding communities. Several airports, however, answered that they are fully engaged with their communities for emergency planning and exercises; in such cases, about half the communities have participation by DAFN persons or groups. What type of specific training do you give your employees and first responders on DAFN during emergency situations? Among the 23 airports, 8 reported providing no special DAFN training to employees, but 2 of 6 airports depend on mutual aid partners that do receive such training. Of the remaining 15 airports, the most common response (6 airports) was that airport employees get awareness training, usually as part of new employee orientation. Another four airports reported giving employees training on how to assist DAFN passengers in all hazards, and two airports train all customer service employees on how to assist when requested. Single airports reported train- ing to assist with an annual special event, providing DAFN training to managers, and training emergency managers and wardens. Appendix D contains two training presentations: (1) by the Los Angeles International Airport and (2) by the Los Angeles Fire Department. The first deals with evacuation procedures for persons with disabilities and the second deals with first responder interactions with persons with disabilities. Appendix D can be found on the TRB website (www.trb.org) by searching “ACRP Synthesis 90.” Four particular sources of the training were mentioned. Several airports’ ADA coordinators or emergency management staff members develop and deliver the training; this is typical at airports that provide awareness training during new employee orientation. One airport is working with the American Red Cross to develop and deliver its DAFN emergency curriculum. Two airports use accessibility consultants to guide or provide the training. One airport’s DAFN training is provided by its wheelchair and mobility concessionaire. Locally developed videos are being used at several airports. One airline reported providing classroom and online instruction by a contractor to all its station employees, and one airline reported that it is part of flight attendant training. What type of additional equipment or support is identified and utilized during emergencies to assist the DAFN community and their animals, specialized equipment, or care givers? Of the 23 airports, 20 reported having one or more kinds of spe- cialized equipment to use to assist DAFN persons during emergencies. Most of the equipment was mobility-related: evacuation chairs, stair chairs, aisle chairs, skeds, stair slides, passenger lift devices, and pro-move slings as well as accessible buses for moving evacuees. Three airports reported using aviramps (moveable 1:10 ramps) to allow evacuation of The most unusual approach reported was using pre-identified support functions to analyze potential needs and to identify sources on the airport staff or through pre-arranged local vendors for special- ized services. Aspen-Pitkin County Airport gave the example of making a motorized wheelchair mechanic avail- able to fix assistive equipment damaged in baggage or cargo handling. This is an airport that serves a community that hosts a very large annual gathering of disabled veterans. Pre-identifying support mechanisms is available as a cross-cutting organizational tool that can help any airport identify services and organizations that can help provide routine or emergency services to DAFN passengers.

18 Incorporating ADA and Functional Needs in Emergency Exercises passengers in wheelchairs from planes. One airport has a new terminal that has all ramps— no stairs, escalators, or elevators. What support or training can the DAFN community give to support your organization? Information provided by 20 airports has been consolidated into the following list of potential benefits that can come from engaging with the DAFN community: • Broadening perspective • Improving safety of DAFN passengers • Understanding of the airport’s commitment to serve all passengers • Building awareness of the DAFN passengers’ needs • Educating airport employees on how to interact • Identifying accessibility barriers at airports • Providing improved training opportunities including trainers with first-hand experience • Recruiting volunteers for exercises and plan reviews • Understanding the airport’s needs and capabilities • Testing airport emergency plans and procedures • Communicating expectations The airlines concurred with the importance of increasing awareness and of learning how to interact with DAFN persons. What specific lessons have you learned from exercises or real-life events when supporting DAFN individuals during emergencies? The potential benefits to airports from closer engagement with DAFN passengers and advo- cates match the lessons learned from exercises and real-life events. When airports have included DAFN persons in their emergency exercises, the airports have learned about gaps in services, misunderstandings, and misperceptions about the real needs. Lessons have also been learned Shared Lesson from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport During our terminal evacuation in 2013, all of our wheelchair service providers evacuated with the general population, leaving no one to assist those in wheelchairs. This was not so much of a problem in the terminal as much as it was with those on our parked aircraft. Once the passengers were allowed to exit the aircraft, those who required assistance had no wheelchairs or ramps to push the wheelchairs down. Our firefighters actually had to carry passengers off of the aircraft. We have had other real-world events (fire alarm activations, tornado warnings) that have forced us to move passengers from the concourses; however, we did not encounter any roadblocks by using our PA System, Airport Security team, and Emergency Visual Messaging System. I believe that by just having airport personnel present and ready to assist during an emergency can relieve a lot of stress for the DAFN community. You cannot predict what roadblocks you will encounter during an emergency, but being aware that these roadblocks exist can help tremendously in your emergency planning.

Findings 19 from recurring special events and from actual emergencies. Airports that include DAFN issues as part of their after action review (AAR) seem to have gained more than airports that do not specifically include such issues in AARs. Among lessons learned, problems with communications are perhaps the most frequent and troublesome. Two airports spoke to the need to improve transferring information about the location of DAFN passengers who need assistance. One airport believed that communications were good during emergency response but they broke down during recovery activities. Several airports emphasized the importance of closing the loop by incorporating lessons learned in the continuous improvement process. Effective communications require airport employees to keep the appropriate communication means available to deploy in an emergency—for example, pencil and paper to communicate with a person with hearing impairment. One aspect of communications dealt with ensuring that DAFN persons, especially those with mobility issues, understand the nature of triage priorities in a mass casualty incident (real or exercise). The issue is that first responders will deal with life-threatening injuries first before rending assistance to persons who have reduced mobility but do not have a new injury. Education and two-way communication are required. Misunderstandings concerning the role of the airport and of the airline have the potential to create a lack of services for DAFN passengers. Ideally, in an emergency, the airport, the airlines, and the airlines’ contracted wheelchair service providers will work together as a team to ensure the safety of all passengers. One airport described its approach as consequence management; it monitors passenger issues including issues with DAFN passengers from its EOC and dispatches airport employees to assist airlines and mobility providers as necessary. Airports have learned that passengers in wheelchairs and others with permanent or temporary mobility impairment, which may include the elderly and young children, will need mobility assistance. This has led to the provision of accessible buses and to specialized aviramps for evacu- ating planes. Part of this lesson learned is that catering trucks are not very desirable for plane evacuations and are totally unacceptable for transporting DAFN persons around the airfield. Several airports have had incidents in which wheelchair service providers abandoned their passengers in an emergency. Careful joint planning among airports, airlines, and wheelchair service providers is necessary to eliminate such incidents. If a passenger’s disability requires a medication that must be refrigerated, emergency responders need to be prepared to arrange refrigeration. A medical emergency superimposed on another emergency will complicate both situations and the response to them. Emergency exercises may not allow an airport to predict the exact roadblocks that may be encountered in an emergency, but they do allow airport personnel to practice coping with sur- prises. Incorporating DAFN passengers in emergency exercises will increase the range of this practice. Similar benefits may be gained when DAFN communities are included in an AEP. The final lesson learned is that preparatory outreach pays off for everyone—passengers, their families, the airport, the airline, and first responders. What barriers or problems have you encountered and how were they resolved (e.g., how about limited resources—funds, people, etc.)? Airports reported the following barriers and issues that affected their efforts to include DAFN persons in emergency exercises: • Staff size • Staff time to develop and institutionalize training

20 Incorporating ADA and Functional Needs in Emergency Exercises • Insufficient mobility equipment for stairs • Differing definitions of “accessibility” between airport and airline • Airport architecture—the physical layout of the airport • Space limitations • Most DAFN services (in the United States) are provided by third parties under contract to airlines and not under control of airports • Getting airlines and other tenants to participate in training • Assurance of accountability during an emergency response • Inertia and ignorance, especially toward such things as Universal Design, Universal Access, and Equitable Access • Confusion over regulatory requirements • Lack of understanding by passengers that the level of customer service will be diminished during emergency response and recovery Four of the 23 airports reported having encountered none of these barriers. They appear to have in common a very strong orientation toward superior customer service for all customers including DAFN passengers. Airports in general have found solutions to these barriers and issues by building partnerships; using volunteers; sharpening focus; developing long-range training and exercise plans; and practicing continuous improvement. All 23 airports in the synthesis showed awareness of the importance of being prepared to help DAFN passengers during emer- gencies. Three airports use accessibility consultants, six airports work with the Open Doors Organization, and one airport is having an audit of barriers and issues performed by the American Red Cross. Do you know of other airports or organizations that have a successful DAFN emergency exercise program? The responses to this question indicated that many airports are unaware of successful DAFN emergency exercise programs at other airports or at other types of organizations in their com- munities. It is not clear from the data collected for this synthesis whether airports have over- looked local resources. On the other hand, 12 airports listed other airports as models they admire. LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), PHX (Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport), MSP (Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport), the Houston Airport System, DEN (Denver International Airport), DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport), RSW (Southwest Florida International Airport), and JAX (Jacksonville International Airport) were cited by other airports. LAX, PHX, MSP, and Houston have become well-known through their presentations at industry conferences such as the AAAE Emergency Management Annual Conference. Special- ized hospitals, a local school district, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the American Red Cross were also listed as models. How do you think we can better be prepared to assist the DAFN individuals during emergencies? Airport responses to this question coalesced around four basic themes: • Awareness – Building relationships in advance of an emergency – Increasing mutual awareness In its interview, one airline illustrated the challenges and solutions: In 2015, a paraplegic person needed to be evacuated during a smoke in the cabin incident—valuable experience for airline and lessons learned. The occupant filmed the response to the incident—his family left the airplane on the slide and he had to stay due to his disability. The pilot and flight attendant during final check of airplane found the individual and lifted him up from his chair and put him on the slide. The pilot and flight attendant had to be very deliberate so not to further hurt the individual and had someone at the end of the slide to catch him. The 90-second requirement does not work with the DAFN community—importance of being deliberate during emergencies with DAFN community.

Findings 21 – Engaging with the DAFN communities through outreach – Convening and using disability advisory committees • Preparedness – Practicing communications and alternative means of communication – Training on when and how to assist – Planning with DAFN individuals’ needs in mind – Exercising realistically and regularly with DAFN participants • Continuous improvement with DAFN advocates involved in evaluation • Good emergency management including DAFN persons is part of good customer service – Selling the idea that with preparation and understanding, DAFN persons can travel comfortably and safely – Extending practices to Friends and Family Reception Centers (Family Support Centers) – Equitable access Appendix E contains the checklist developed by JAX for its 2017 triennial exercise that intensively incorporated multiple types of disabilities and limited English proficiency. Many problems were revealed during the exercise and the ensuing AAR. Appendix E can be found on the TRB website (www.trb.org) by searching for “ACRP Synthesis 90.” Even if you are unable to incorporate DAFN into emergency exercises currently, do you have a plan to do so? Or, if you had more resources, time, training, etc., how would you incorporate DAFN into emergency exercises? The four airports that have never had DAFN participants in their emergency exercises all stated the intention to look into it. Their stated first step is to consider the formation of a disability advisory committee. What barriers or problems have you encountered and how were they resolved? During an emergency evacuation drill, officials observed how trained service dogs make their human partners stay seated to stay out of harm’s way, hence delaying their evacuation. Revising preflight safety briefs to teach persons traveling with service dogs to command their dogs to help them evacuate will address this issue. It is critical for first responders to be trained to view persons and their dogs as a single “person” to be assisted as a unit and kept together. The community does not necessarily seem to understand that the level of services during emergency and recovery situations will neces- sarily be lower than during normal operations. To effectively manage emergency and recovery situations, the community must be informed of the situation, which includes current awareness and transparency in real time; and must know the nature of the emergency, which requires good situational awareness. A written doctrine must address these two types of needs. Special needs populations should be included in the doctrine. “The bottom line: Handling the population is part of the doctrine of crisis management. It is important not to just deal with the event, but to deal with the population including during the aftermath.” (A. Bachar, interview, 9/1/17.) There is a new benchmark that requires us to understand exactly what is involved when assisting DAFN individuals during emergencies. “To view the issue in a useful way, it is fundamental to understand that there is no such thing as a disabled person, rather a person who is con- fronted by a disabling environment. We should therefore focus on changing the environment, not trying to change people.” —Roberto Castiglioni, Reduced Mobility Rights Ltd.

22 Incorporating ADA and Functional Needs in Emergency Exercises Source: BraunAbility. Paratransit van. Findings Appendix F contains the findings from the interviews and literature review presented as a list of outside organizations and agencies to involve when developing a DAFN-inclusive emergency planning and exercise program. Appendix G contains a checklist for integrating ADA and access and functional needs in emergency exercises. Some items may not pertain to a specific airport or in the legal environment outside the United States. Appendices F and G can be found on the TRB website (www.trb.org) by searching for “ACRP Synthesis 90.”