By Mr Alfred Fischer, Marketing Director / Business Development, STI Security Training International GmbH
SubscribeThe Importance of Adequate Training of the Personnel
The acts of terrorism in London last year, and the thwarted attack some weeks ago have shaken the world and roused new vigilance. Regardless of measures taken by the aviation industry to elevate security standards, terrorism will always find new ways. Even though a great deal has been invested into new detection systems, even though airlines, airport police and civil aviation authorities have thus arrived at a higher level of security, one aspect is too often not taken into account, namely the instruction and training of the personnel.
Research done by the security company STI (www.sti-training.com) clearly shows that only 27% of the companies provide adequate training for their staff when new equipment is introduced. When tenders are submitted, they do regularly include obligatory training, yet mostly without any detailed descriptions of the precise requirements. Quality certifications of the instructing company are not formally called for, and if they are, they do not testify the level of achievement. Anonymous tests of airport security staff prove that less than 50% are fit for their jobs, e.g. working with X-ray machines.
Today there are, of course, automatic identification technologies like in hold baggage checks (EDS) or in tracing of explosives. But as long as the schooling is deficient, we will be far from optimal use of all technical functions at hand to actually recognise all potential threats. In critical situations however, even if there has been a basic instruction for the high-tech equipment, manual analysis and the right decision remain important: It is human resources, it is the human being that matters.
What happens after such basic training? normally offered to new staff only? Continuous training is very often neglected. Experienced personnel often feel safe and familiar with the technology, but are they really? Several usability tests carried out by STI at airports prove that especially experienced staff display great weaknesses due to habitual and ingrained mistakes or to mere "learning by doing". Moreover, studies by Zurich University show that the recognition rate of dangerous items in screening processes can be increased by 78% within only a few months by means of computer-based learning. In the field of X-ray interpretation, modern standardised training systems for all staff can be a solution. But the effectiveness of operator training systems is dependant on the realistic quality of the material provided (i.e. X-ray pictures, real scanned bags), as well as on the flexibility of adjustment of training contents to new situations.
As the British airports incidents have shown, especially carry-on luggage checks needs to be improved. Besides improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the training should also focus on electronic devices (laptop computers, cell phones, portable music players) and on supposedly innocent every-day items, such as liquids, aerosols, and gels. In this or comparable situations, the capacity of fast system adaptation to new challenges is of an immense importance? what training simulators can precisely reveal.
While the Image Quality Standards (IQS) for X-Ray Interpretation Training have, in recent times, guaranteed an optimum quality in terms of technical image resolution and realistic representation, training content development and didactics have always aimed at a broader schooling and at the best possible recognition techniques for diverse scenarios. Local features should definitely be included, and everything should be available in the language actually spoken by the staff. Moreover, an "open" training system allows for instant adjustment, i.e. the rating shift of all liquids from non-critical to critical, or the installation of new visual material of recent events. In the process, it is important to record the learning results in a central report to be able to estimate the performance of each trainee at any given point.
Yet, the best training system has no effects if not implemented directly after the installation? or, as experience unfortunately shows, if it is not properly used or simply was purchased as an alibi. Recently, so-called "mystery checks" at checkpoints of big German airports have been carried out to find out about the quality of private security service provider personnel. Although the same training system had been employed, the result for certain providers was that the failure rate was twice as high as with companies that had arrived at an optimum use of the system by also employing good instruction methods.
In summary, solid basic instruction, continuous training, and the use of flexible training systems, is an investment that pays off for any responsible security manager. This is the only way to react adequately and effectively to the threats of today and of the future? without being forced to start from the scratch any time new threats emerge.
Alfred Fischer, business graduate
Senior Consultant Aviation Security, Marketing Director STI
