Airport Works Safety

When contractors are required to complete works on an active airport, it is almost certain that a Works Safety Officer (WSO) will be required to monitor the work in accordance with CASA MOS Pt 139.

While workplace health and safety (WHS) is everyone’s responsibility, a WSO is not a WHS expert. A WSO is an aviation safety expert. The diverse role of a WSO is to ensure the safety of aircraft and services at the airport and to ensure that airport works do not affect the operational safety of the airport.

Work conducted on an airport’s airside changes the normal operation of that airport, given that the works can often necessitate the closure of portions of the movement areas, making these areas unavailable for aircraft use.

A well trained WSO will facilitate the airside works to minimise the operational impact on airlines and other aircraft. On larger and more complex airport works projects, multiple WSOs can be required to manage disparate work sites.

Large airport works projects are often only undertaken, particularly in the regional airport sector, every 15 -20 years and in line with runway and taxiway resurfacing and airfield lighting replacements.

It is often the case that permanent staff at an airport have never experienced or had to manage large scale airport works projects. Furthermore, the addition of many workers and equipment as part of airport works projects can be beyond the capacity of an airport to manage, given that the airport staff have daily duties to complete. Therefore, WSOs are sourced by the airport operator to not only supplement staff numbers, but to also bring high levels of corporate experience in managing airport works programs to the project.