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Issue 8 2015
The Communications
Review Committee
Heathrow Airport Limited:
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Gary Barthram,
Senior Airport Fire
Manager, Heathrow
Airport Fire and Rescue
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Nigel Houlton,
Duty Manager
Airside Operations
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Mark O’Connor, Lead
Airport Duty Manager
London Ambulance Service
NHS Trust
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Chris Hawkswell,
Emergency Planning
& Resilience Officer
(Control Services)
London Fire Brigade
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Jim A’Court,
Group Manager
Metropolitan Police Service
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Police Sergeant
Nick Gregory,
Contingency Planning/
Business Continuity
Manager, SO18 Aviation
Security, Metropolitan
Police Service
UK Border Force
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John Austin, Senior Officer
UK Home Office
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Geoff Lowe,
National Airwave
Interoperability Manager
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Katrina Felton, TEA2
multi-site incident. In total, this gives us
three layers of resilience, and complete
interoperability when required, enabling
the airport duty command team to
become part of the overall response
team should resources need to be
brought in from outside the airport.
“During the trial period, which began
in February, we were encouraged to
use the radios as much as possible
for exchanging general information
and to become familiar with the radios
and their features. The benefits were
obviously immediate – to have an open
channel across the four lines of airport
management means that we are all
aware of what is happening across the
airport and have much earlier warning
of potential issues. A good example is
when the Airfield Duty Manager DMA
mentioned that a vehicle on the airport
had a leaking fuel tank – we deployed a
fire appliance to the area before we had
been officially alerted.
“The more advanced the warning,
the better it is when a major
incident is unfolding, so this new
communications group can mean
the team has longer to prepare. That
may only be a few minutes, but it
can make all the difference. The way
an incident is managed is not only
critical to the safety of all people in
and around the airport – both on the
ground and in the air – but Heathrow
contributes some nine per cent of the
UK’s gross domestic product (GDP),
so disruptions and closures have a
major economic impact.”
Training sessions for all the
agencies involved were organised and
hosted by Heathrow Airport Fire and
Rescue, and facilitated by Airwave.
All working shifts were covered to
ensure that all airside and passenger
terminal side managers and airport
authority staff were included. The
MPS set out the process and
structured the working practices
agreed with the different agencies
that also use the Airwave Service in
and around Heathrow. These include
London Ambulance Service NHS
Trust, London Fire Brigade and the
UK Borders Agency.
“The trial ran for four months and
following its success, Airwave’s
ESN has been in use by the team at
Heathrow since June. It is working
amazingly well. We have already seen
a significant increase in our efficiency.
First responders simply cannot work
in isolation: all partners have shared
teaching methods and processes,
and there is now a much better
understanding of how the different
agencies work. Not only have the
radio communications improved, but
the professional relationships are
much stronger due to this initiative.
Without buy-in and partnership, we
couldn’t have done it,” said Gary.
“This project was a textbook
example of identifying areas for
improvement, running a business
impact analysis, identifying a solution,
trialling, assessing, incorporating
feedback and implementing the new
process – it’s now a standard part
of our working day, and the Airwave
Service has proved its worth.
“As professionals, everything we
do is under intense scrutiny, and we
have a duty to ensure we are using
the best possible solutions to keep
the public safe – it is our job to get
ahead of the game on behalf of the
public. Although the true benefits will
only become apparent if there is a
major emergency, we now have best
practice embedded.”
Heathrow Airport Fire and Rescue is privately owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited
