Speaker: Andrew Rhinehart, APFA National Safety and Security Chair
What work do you perform at the Union?
Andrew Rhinehart: At APFA Safety and Security, the role of department chair and department representative are very different. Our department currently is staffed 24/7, and department representatives are responsible for responding to all critical incidences that are received from American Airlines in-flight operation support. Now these incidences can vary from an illness or injury on duty to severe turbulence or to a safety and security concern on a layover. We then communicate that information to our national officers, our base presidents who then conduct their internal procedures and wellness checks, as well as APFA EAP who will conduct wellness checks and set up a critical incident debrief with you if that event warrants one. We also now with our APFA notification system are actively sending out checklists to all affected crew members involved in certain events. That might be a cabin odor fume event, an assault from an unruly passenger, inadvertent slide deployment, or extreme turbulence with injuries. As department chair, I'm responsible for all high-level safety and security concerns. I attend all meetings with American Airlines in-flight training, policies and procedures, safety, corporate security, and the FAA. I'm also actively a stakeholder in all safety programs that affect our members with American Airlines, as well as am in charge of the program development and planning for safety initiatives that occur at APFA headquarters.
