Sydney Airport is committed to delivering the highest levels of safety and security of everyone who comes in to contact with our operations or any of the activities under our control.

Governance

The Safety, Security and Sustainability (SSS) Committee assists the Board in fulfilling its safety responsibilities. The SSS Committee Charter sets out its objectives and functions.

The Safety Steering Committee is an executive level group chaired by the CEO that monitors all aspects of safety across our operations.

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for organisational and aviation safety in SYD’s Safety Management System.

Executives and people leaders have a lead and lag safety KPIs designed to drive safety culture and best practice throughout our organisation.

Our Safety & Wellbeing Policy sets out this commitment and our objectives in line with the legislative requirements of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 and the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) & Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW).

Management

Our Safety Management System operates across our organisation to identify, assess and manage safety issues and risks. It covers aviation safety, work health and safety, wellbeing, emergency, and safety training and applies to all workers at Sydney Airport including employees, contractors, sub-contractors, in-house consultants, and volunteers.

Our SMS meets civil aviation and workplace health and safety requirements relevant to our operations, and supports a safe culture in everything we do, and aligns with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Manual of Standards (Part 139) (MOS) and AS/NZS ISO 45001.

Wildlife and aviation safety

Wildlife in and around the airfield can pose a safety risk and can cause damage to the aircraft. For both passenger and wildlife safety, we do everything we can to divert wildlife from making the airfield their permanent home.

We actively manage those animals whose natural habitat is the airport precinct. We work closely with the Australian Museum to identify bird species through their DNA, to help us gain a better understanding of various species.

Our Wildlife Management Plan has been in place since 2003 and is a requirement of the Federal Government. The plan sets out how we monitor wildlife at the airport, assess risks and hazards posed by animals and sets expectations for data collection to understand animal patterns and behaviour.

The airfield team constantly roams the aerodrome to ensure birds are not jeopardising the safety of aircraft operations and use a range of strategies to disperse birds through noise, which includes pyrotechnics, shotguns, air rifles and sirens.

Our Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management Strategy guides our management of FOD on the airfield. We produce a monthly report using statistical analysis and spatial mapping to identify the key types and locations of FOD on the airfield.