Human resiliency or the ability to bounce back after a psychological set-back is a valuable commodity for airports and air carriers. Catastrophic events, such as human-made accidents or attacks or natural disaster events can have long-term effects on employees that may disrupt their ability to perform even routine tasks. The ability of airport and air carrier employees to recover from a disastrous event with minimal psychological trauma is critical to business productivity and continuity of operations. Thus, there is a need to promote human resiliency among airports and air carriers. Research is needed to further guide airports and air carriers to enhance employees’ ability to cope with the psychological effects of a traumatic event. Airports and air carriers can then adopt strategies and implement a variety of practices before, during, and after such events to improve and ensure employees’ ability to cope with the event. This can mitigate the psychological effects of a traumatic event and expedite a return to normal operations.
The objective of this project was to develop a resource manual of human-impact considerations and practices for airport and air carrier managers related to human-made accidents or attacks, or natural disaster events. The manual rationalizes the need for airport and air carrier preparedness, and describes critical considerations and steps that can be taken to mitigate employee psychological trauma before, during, and after such distressing events.
