SLCAA’s AvSEC Staff Conclude Security Auditing Techniques Course
22nd – 26th March 2021
Virtual (Zoom)
Aviation Security and Facilitation (AvSEC) staff at the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA) have concluded a five-day course on Aviation Security Auditing Techniques.
Conducted by the Singapore Aviation Academy, the course aims at providing the required knowledge and skills in Aviation Security Auditing Techniques for AvSEC staff to effectively conduct compliance audits and manage quality control programmes.
This course also enhances the awareness of aviation security managers and supervisors on auditing procedures and techniques in line with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 17 (Security) and the ICAO Document 8973 (Security Manual).
During the 2019 ICAO Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA), it could be recalled that the SLCAA scored 71%, which is above the Regional Average of 65%.
Fourteen SLCAA staff and three Republic of Sierra Leone Arm Forces RSLAF personnel attached to the Air Wing at the Freetown International Airport (FNA), totalling seventeen participants, participated in the course.
Speaking on the impact of the five-day capacity building programme, Bamie Tua Penyikie, AvSEC officer, expressed elation in the content of the course. He said that the five-day course covered: Introduction to aviation security quality control, definition, and contents of audit/inspection programme, Preparation techniques for an audit/inspection, Audit/inspection methodology, Audit/inspection techniques, and Profile of the auditor, which he noted, are essential to his work.
The SLCAA Director of Aviation Security and Facilitation, Kugbei Tucker, acknowledged the relevance of the course to the operations of Aviation Security and Facilitation at the Freetown International Airport, adding that: “With this training, the AvSEC staff have now gained the required knowledge in providing Aviation Security Oversight and helped us to understand in a better way how to carry out audit exercises at the Airport”.
He continued by revealing that before now there were challenges in implementing the USAP CMA but the course has a platform to understand all the dynamics involved with better knowledge on pre, during and post aviation security audit exercises. He observed that this was one of the findings of the 2019 USAP CMA audit under Training and Certification. “We believe that during the next USAP CMA audit scheduled for 2022, SLCAA will be in a better position to score 85% and above”, he said.
Director Tucker ended by expressing thanks and appreciation to the management of SLCAA for such an opportunity, adding that with this training, his staff now have the required knowledge to effectively prepare for an aviation security audit/inspection, conduct and document an aviation security audit/inspection and understand ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) on aviation security.
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