march2023 - 24

International
Ground Handlers'
Data-Driven Mission
By utilizing the Safety Incident Database (SID), the Airport Services Association
intends to improve safety while reducing ground damage and delays.
BY MARIO PIEROBON
S
ID, which stands for Safety
Incident Database, is an acronym
that the Airport Services
Association (ASA) coined in 2020.
According to ASA director general
Fabio Gamba, with this acronym, the
association's aim is to inaugurate its
both novel and traditional concept of
allowing its participants, the ground
handling service providers (GHSPs), to
do two main things.
" One is to create a repository of
ground incident, near-miss and hazard
database following an agreed upon
taxonomy, and the other is to allow the
participants to benchmark their own
data against the rest of the industry
- the rest being obviously only available
in aggregated and de-identified
form, " he says.
Data-Driven Tool
Simply put, SID is a unique tool using
data-driven information to support
GHSPs' continuous improvement in
safety. It aims to help them reduce
24 || Ground Support Worldwide || March 2023
aircraft ground damage and delays,
according to Gamba.
" The definition phase took the association
and members around a year
or so, and we are now putting the
finishing touches to the development
phase, having started collecting the
data of seven pioneering companies
covering around two years of operations, "
he says.
Being at the end of this pilot phase,
ASA is now ready to launch the deployment
phase as of the second part of
2023. ASA started working on the concept
at a time when the whole world
was at a standstill due to COVID, and
this has allowed officials to go through
all the stages of the definition phase in
depth, observes Gamba.
" We feel our feet are on solid ground.
We are to announce a turnkey platform
that any GHSP, irrespective of the size or
geographical location, will feel comfortable
with and be able to apply without
unnecessary effort, " he says. " In order to
make sure we are not measuring pears
and apples, even the most basic fields
must be defined in such a way that they
mean the same everywhere and all
the time and that there is no space for
interpretation. "
SID Participation
ASA's mantra is that SID was done
" by GHSPs for GHSPs. " As this phrase
implies and Gamba points out, the taxonomy
has been developed exclusively
for the operational reality of GHSPs.
" This is important as there are other
repositories in place today that are
offered to the sector with the same
declared purpose, but whose objectives,
and hence relative taxonomy, significantly
differ, " he affirms. " There are
not, currently, bespoke solutions to the
intrinsic specificities of the sector and
this may affect the possibility for the
sector to benchmark, a feature that is at
the heart of the SID concept. "
Indeed, SID is GHSP-specific,
although the possibility to include
in the future other elements of the
march2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of march2023
