The competences of command cadre of the airport fire service on the example of safety assurance of Warsaw Okęcie Airport

Abstract

The globalization process in almost all spheres of our life causes a possibility of making equal living standards in all countries of the world. An introduction to globalization was undoubtedly the development of air transport which greatly accelerated the possibility of travelling on all continents. Along with the development of technology, airplanes used for carrying people and cargo become much better, quicker, but they also become more and more complicated in respect of their construction. This also gives rise to requirements that airports have to comply with, i.e. in order to receive super modern machines they must be equipped with modern navigational facilities, modern equipment for surface handling of airplanes and passengers. This, in turn, requires a continuous development of knowledge and competence from airport staff to be flexible in the constantly modernized environment. In consideration of a rapid development of air transport, and consequently its increasing importance for the world economy countries face a problem how to assure the high quality of aviation services, its access for a man-in-the-street, and first of all safety in its broad meaning, which is a synonym of quality in air transport. Nowadays, this is the main problem in air transport which has priority before the comfort of a traveller. Safety in aviation is approached in two dimensions – prevention of occurrence events and removal of results of unforeseeable incidents, accidents or catastrophes. A special part in this area is performed by the airport rescue and firefighting service, commonly called the Airport Fire Service (AFS). The main requirement for airport rescuers set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is conducting rescue and firefighting operations in case of an aircraft or airport incident (disaster) [...].