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16 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE APRIL 2016 INTERNATIONAL By Mario Pierobon While a deadly October 2014 apron incident at Moscow's Vnukovo airport could have happened anywhere - indeed multiple similar occurrences have happened – the event highlighted that employee health and safety on the apron system is of utmost importance, even more so when operations are conducted in diffcult meteorological conditions, which are very common across the whole Russian landscape. Health and Safety is a Full Time Job O n the night of 20 October 2014 snow removal vehicles were active at Moscow's Vnukovo airport in Russia. Two snow- ploughs were working under the command of a supervisor who was sitting in a nearby car. The supervisor lost sight of one of the snowploughs as it entered the intersection of runways 06/24 and 01/19. At the same time a Dassault Falcon 50EX (F-GLSA) headed to Paris was cleared for take-off on runway 06. The crew taxied onto the runway from taxiway A11 and began the take-off roll. About 10 seconds after the crew had received permission to take off, the surface movement radar in the control tower showed one of the snowploughs to be moving along the left border of runway 19 in a southerly direction towards the intersection with runway 06. After about 14 seconds the aircraft commenced the take-off the crew observed a 'car' crossing the runway. The take-off was continued. The airplane lifted off the runway at a speed of about 134 knots. After 1,030 meters the right wing and right hand main landing gear impacted the snowplough. The airplane rolled inverted and came down 250 meters further on. A post impact fre broke out. All of the aircraft occupants were killed in the crash: the three crew members and the passenger, the then CEO of energy group Total of France, Christophe de Margerie. The aircraft was destroyed. According to preliminary data, the driver of the snowplough was in a state of alcoholic intoxication. Dmitry Marinov is Station Manager for Rus - sia of Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) and has been based at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport for many years. Since 2015 he's also in charge of SAS' Moscow station at Sheremetyevo airport in addi- tion to his duties in St. Petersburg, the "Northern capital." According to Marinov, health and safety management in Russia is ultimately governed by federal law that prescribes all mandatory requirements. Russian airports issue orders and instructions at a local level, enforcing specifc local procedures with reference to and in compliance with federal laws. Ground handling service providers operating at various Russian airports also implement their own health and safety management systems. SAS' service provider at Saint Petersburg's Pulkovo is the Northern Capital Gateway Consortium (NCG), which is comprised of Russia's VTB Bank, the Copelouzos Group and Fraport; the consortium is in the midst of a 30-year agreement to man- age and develop Pulkovo airport. According to Marinov, NCG's health and safety system is an ambitious and thorough project. NCG has decided to operate the British Standard OHSAS 18001 on occupational health and safety management. The standard sets out minimum requirements for occupational health and safety management best practices and it provides a framework for an occu- pational health and safety management system.