Heathrow Director response
Hi mate. Thanks for your words. The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is actually modeled off the program used by emergency first responders (firefighters, paramedics/EMT, police, etc). Our union has currently about 12 trained individuals and there is a 24/7 communication if needed. If small accident, they sometimes talk via phone but in cases of larger incidents, someone more or less comes in person. I was not involved in the accident but when the rep was at the tower, I took the time to learn about the program.
People have to understand that after witnessing something like that, you kind of work the traffic at the moment but you need to get those individuals off position and give them "healing" time. I truly believe such system works as my brother was a firefighter, then paramedic, and is now a lieutenant in the department. No matter the occupation, we are human and we all handle and cope with tragedies differently. It is important that point is understood.