Occupational and aviation safety

The Zurich Airport Group does its utmost to protect people, aircraft, vehicles and infrastructure from damage, accidents and criminal acts.

Relevance

Approach and progress

Zurich site

Overarching safety and security responsibilities

Zurich Airport Ltd. operates an integrated management system (IMS) to systematically manage all safety and security aspects relating to flight operations at the Zurich site. As well as safety and security, this system also encompasses occupational health and safety. It aims firstly to reduce organisational risks by putting clear processes and organisational structures in place, and secondly to systematically improve preventive measures so that injuries and material damage are avoided from the outset.

The collaboration of all companies based at the airport and their employees is essential to ensure safety and security. Various factors have an impact on safety, from the structural conditions, organisational structures and processes to the conduct of employees. Flight operations and ramp safety at the Zurich site are handled by specific units of Zurich Airport Ltd. They ensure everything always runs smoothly in accordance with the regulations and stand ready to respond to any incidents. In the event of an incident, Zurich Airport Ltd. also bears the primary responsibility for coordinating the various emergency responders. As well as drafting and updating emergency plans and emergency operating concepts, the company is obliged to carry out regular large-scale drills. The last such event took place in November of the reporting year.

The company also operates a cross-divisional business continuity management system to prepare for and manage exceptional situations. This provides plans and processes to ensure that operations are continued and further damage is avoided in the event of crises and emergencies. Company-wide impact analyses were carried out in the reporting year, which serve as a basis for defining the failure tolerances of individual systems and the resulting reserve services.

Although the airport fire and rescue services are based on the airfield, they are actually part of the City of Zurich’s emergency services (Schutz & Rettung Zürich). The professional cantonal civil defence organisation can be called on for assistance in the event of an incident at the airport.

As part of the ongoing “Safe together” campaign, safety days were once again held at the Zurich site in November of the reporting year. These days are organised together with partner companies to highlight various topical aspects relating to safety and security, occupational safety and fire safety. Safety days help to raise awareness and deliver related further training. Around 1,150 employees of Zurich Airport Ltd. and the partner companies participated.

Safety

Both the authorities and Zurich Airport Ltd. regularly conduct inspections and airport operation audits to verify that the rules and safety procedures are being followed in day-to-day operations. Any necessary corrective action is then taken where necessary. In the reporting year, a regular “full scope” audit was carried out by FOCA at the Zurich site, during which all regulated flight operation processes were assessed. There were no serious deficiencies and the result of the audit can be considered as very good. In addition, the authority carried out an inspection of a subdivision where no deviations were found. The airport’s internal pool of auditors, supervised by the “Safety & Compliance Office”, also conducted 25 audits, inspections and document reviews. A few deviations werde identified and several recommendations werde provided, but no significant deficiencies were discovered.

The overarching objective of all measures is to continuously reduce the number of accidents and incidents in relation to aircraft movements. While the number of incidents involving damage to infrastructure decreased slightly, there was a slight increase in the number of incidents involving damage to aircraft. There has been a significant increase in claims on vehicles. This is attributable to the increase in flight movements, which put greater pressure on the airport system and also led to additional vehicle traffic. The personnel situation, which remained tense, had a negative impact as well: A shortage of experienced employees and a large number of new hires resulted in less routine in day-to-day operations. Construction sites and the related changes in traffic patterns also impacted safety performance. Despite these influencing factors, overall safety remained at a tolerable level. The new SMS software introduced in the previous year was further developed in the reporting year and already provides detailed information on the causes of incidents. This enables more targeted measures to be taken to increase safety performance.

Security

Zurich Airport is obliged to implement many national and international regulations relating to security in the air. These are based on the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NASP) issued by FOCA. The airport operator is responsible for ensuring and verifying that its processes comply with all legislation. However, the Zurich cantonal police and private security firms are responsible for carrying out the actual security checks at doors and gates, and for checking passengers, baggage and freight.

The drone detection system entered operation in the reporting year. This system automatically detects authorised and unauthorised drones around the clock and issues a corresponding notification. For years now, Zurich Airport Ltd. and its partners have established procedures for dealing with drone sightings.

At the end of October of the reporting year, work commenced on the modification of the security lanes for passengers with new computed tomography scanners in the central security check building (SiKo). The project is part of the comprehensive SiKo redesign that brings Zurich Airport’s security check system up to date with the latest engineering standards. The aim is to raise passenger comfort, increase throughput and further improve the quality of security checks.

Both the authorities and Zurich Airport Ltd. regularly carry out spot checks and audits at the checkpoints to verify the quality of the service and compliance with the regulations. In the reporting year, the European Commission conducted a five-day inspection. Deviations identified in the passenger and staff areas are corrected as part of an action plan. The FOCA again conducted 22 audits, inspections and tests. In addition, the internal Airport Security unit performed 157 quality control checks. A total of 27 deviations were identified and corrected with appropriate measures. No incidents of a terrorist nature occurred at Zurich Airport during the reporting year.

Occupational safety and fire safety

Work processes, equipment and materials are regularly analysed with respect to hazards, and after incidents or accidents. Internal safety officers who have received appropriate training are responsible for this, as well as for determining relevant improvement measures. If an employee considers a situation dangerous, they are required to stop work immediately and seek assistance. Every division has a contact person for occupational safety, and these officers are in contact with each other at regular intervals several times a year. Co-workers and line managers are obliged to report incidents and accidents to a central office for investigation.

Zurich Airport Ltd. regularly conducts internal inspections and audits. Inspections are also carried out by various official bodies. Besides checking day-to-day operations, these bodies also review the systematic implementation of occupational health and safety as well as fire safety measures. Based on the standardised procedure, the Safety Officers develop measures to improve safety for the attention of the line managers, who are responsible for their employees. Software-supported measure management enables the measures to be documented and their impact tracked and statistically evaluated.

Safety at majority-owned international subsidiaries

The majority-owned airports in Brazil operate a safety and occupational safety management system designed to ensure the health of employees. This system comprises a risk management programme and an occupational health and safety programme in compliance with the statutory requirements. It covers both hazard identification and regular employee training. A continuous improvement process ensures that an incident or a tip-off from an employee triggers an investigation and additional measures are taken where necessary. The system covers all of the airport operator’s employees.

The two airports in Chile also have an occupational health and safety system based on ISO standard 45001 in order to comply with their statutory obligations.

Occupational health and safety of the workers is one of the top priorities at the Noida site in India. A health, safety and environmental management system is in place at the construction sites that covers the topics of safety and occupational safety. This system complies with the legal requirements and is certified in accordance with ISO 45001. The system covers all construction work for the new airport, and consequently all workers on the site, irrespective of where they are employed. Any reports of incidents or hazardous situations are collected centrally for analysis, and corrective action is taken where necessary. The key measures include medical care and the availability of personal protective equipment adapted to the respective activity.

The stringent requirements of Zurich Airport Ltd. for the protection of workers in India, which go beyond the legal requirements, were enshrined in the contract when the full-service general contractor agreements were awarded. Additional insulation and ventilation was fitted to workers’ accommodations on the construction site to provide better protection from the weather. Care was also taken in the sanitary facilities to respect privacy and protect the health of workers. Both the authorities and the management of the local subsidiary periodically check site safety and the accommodation situation.

Key data