The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the publication of the first edition of the Emergency Response Best Practices Handbook. This online guidance material provides purchasers with information critical to building effective emergency response plans for ground service providers, airports and other aviation-related activities.

“Safety is the most important priority for aviation. While there are some 100,000 flights that safely reach their destinations every single day, any incident is one too many. This handbook will enable industry partners to improve their readiness in line with global best practices, if and when they need to deal with an operational event or emergency situation,” said Kevin Hiatt, IATA’s senior vice president, safety and flight operations.

The handbook provides comprehensive step-by-step guidance on how to plan and implement actions such as humanitarian responses, go-team management, crisis communications and drills and exercises. It is designed to give operators the tools necessary to respond to an incident or accident or build on their existing emergency response protocols. IATA has partnered with industry emergency response experts from around the globe to compile this first-of-its-kind document.