GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here, conducted a mock drill to dispose of life-threatening hazardous material at the airport last week.
The Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) emergency mock drill was conducted in collaboration with Cathay Pacific Airlines, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Telangana State Disaster Response & Fire Services (TSDR&FS) Department, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), State Police and Department of Atomic Energy among others.
The exercise was led by the GHIAL’s Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting (ARFF) team, which is the first responder in case of any emergency situation at the airport. The drill was conducted at the cargo apron of Hyderabad International Airport on a live freighter, which was provided by Cathay Pacific Airlines. TSDR & FS provided their HAZMAT vehicle for the exercise. The GHIAL has been conducting the HAZMAT mock drill every year as part of the airport’s regular emergency exercises and in compliance with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) standards. The objective of the exercise was to test the Airport Emergency Plan and to ensure the highest level of safety, readiness, training, and coordination of all parties involved in emergency situations. It also provided an opportunity to identify the gaps in response and coordination that could arise during various emergency scenarios and adopt measures to resolve them. For the drill, a scenario was enacted at the cargo apron involving a chemical spillage, which took place while loading a cargo onto an aircraft.
Cathay Pacific enacted as the affected cargo airlines during the exercise. As per the airport contingency plan, various critical zones were invoked to address the crisis situation. The exercise ended with a debrief session, which included sharing of observations and explanations from various stakeholders who participated .