Find out more about being a Security Compliance Advisor at Edinburgh Airport from our colleagues Peter and Gethyn

What does a Security Compliance Advisor do? The simple answer is we work to ensure that the airport follows all the security rules and regulations set by the Department for Transport and the CAA. How we do that, however, takes many forms and no two days are ever the same.

How it began for us at EAL

Peter and Gethyn both started at the Airport as Ground Security Officers (GSOs). Peter carried out training as Ground Security Supervisor (GSS), then eventually moved on to become a part of the ID Centre Team for 18 months, before joining the Security Compliance Team. As an officer, Gethyn worked alongside the training team as a coach for several years before moving to the compliance team in December of 2021.

What do we actually do?

As we’ve suggested, the job of Security Compliance Advisor sounds simple, but the role is multifaceted and requires us to carry out a number of different activities day by day.

• We carry out internal audits of security activities across all of EAL, everyone from the Security Operations team to Hold Baggage Screening and even Signature’s private aircraft terminal falls under our responsibility.
• We work with CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) inspectors to ensure compliance with legislation and our own internal processes.
• We work with the EAL projects team to provide relevant security guidance on various projects; this could include construction requirements or what security processes they must follow while the works are ongoing.
• As Security Threats evolve so must our approach and regulation, to keep ahead of the game we work closely with our colleagues in The DfT and CAA in various working groups to ensure that EAL is always in line with best practices.
• We work closely with our third-party providers such as ICTS who look after our Hold Baggage Screening and our security processes at Signature’s private aircraft terminal.
• We also work closely with our international partners and regulators, such as ACI Europe and ECAC. Knowing what the rest of the world is thinking when it comes to security regulation can help us prepare for what decisions get made closer to home as well.
• We have a number of what we call Known Suppliers who carry out security screening on products they then deliver to the airport. We must make sure that they follow all the correct rules and regulations, which sometimes means going quite far afield to visit their depots.
• We also deliver intelligence updates to our Risk Advisory Group, making sure the airport can accurately assess the risks to aviation and appropriately mitigate them.
• Additionally, we have also been lucky enough to be asked to assist other airports with their Security processes and issues they might have, working with Vinci and ACI World we have carried out peer reviews as far afield as Canada, Colombia, Serbia and even Indonesia!

Why do we do it?

The role is without a doubt demanding, but we enjoy it because we are kept challenged. As we’ve said, as threats evolve, we must evolve with them, so things are always changing in terms of processes or technology, keeping up with these changes always keeps us busy.

There’s also a huge sense of satisfaction; we work hard to make sure EAL is one of the safest airports to fly from and our CAA audit results reflect that. We are also immensely proud that security concepts and processes born at EAL are now being copied at other airports across the UK and EU and becoming the standard implemented by the CAA.

Knowing we are even a small part of that success is incredibly rewarding.