CASW day five – Runway debris

It’s a FOD free Friday

On the last day of Canadian Airports Safety Week (CASW), we’re reinforcing safe workplace practices by sharing some valuable tips on mitigating the impacts of Foreign Object Debris – which is commonly referred to as FOD (pronounced like Todd, but with a ‘F’ instead of a ‘T’).

Did you know that if the smallest items of loose debris such as gravel, paper clips, ear plugs, screws or bolts are sucked by a jet engine and/or puncture a tire at high velocity, can cause up to $10 million in aircraft damage? In fact, according to an article published by Boeing Magazine, FOD damages cost the aviation industry around $4 billion annually.

Although the numbers are surprising, it’s important to be highly cognizant of FOD, both because of possible inadvertent costs; but first and foremost, because of the safety risks it poses to ourselves as airport employees, our peers, and our valued guests.  

Some of the ways YYC manages FOD and its impacts are through:

• Diligent removal and maintenance activities
• In-depth training
• Regular runway inspections
• Consistent and clear communication, coordination and teamwork
• New technology

Stay tuned to find out what interesting items the participants signed up for the FOD walk find, who the lucky winner of the $200 YYC Bucks grand prize is, and some key learnings of a week of CASW events.

Thank you to all Team YYC members who got involved in learning about and committing to workplace safety through CASW 2018.