Table 1.

Key suggestions derived from three assessments undertaken in the Taoyuan International Airport

Taoyuan International Airport (TIA)
The self-assessment (March 2011)	Establish and regularly update communication procedures during PHEIC events. Strengthen the planning of PHEIC, along with the detection, PPEs, places designated for decontamination, and training/drills necessary for responding to such emergencies. Clarify the procedure of security inspection of air postal parcels.
The preliminary external assessment (August 2011)	Ensure vertical consultation within competent authorities, as well as horizontal information sharing among competent authorities at PoE when faced by an immediate risk. A communication exercise might be necessary, especially for events with mass casualty or high profile event. As water and food services highly rely on outsourcing companies, it might be required to review documents regularly, and to conduct direct inspection by competent authorities for monitoring the sanitation. Event information should be circulated rapidly not only to public health sectors but also to the large number of service providers and outsourcing companies involved at the airport. The competent authority to be responsible for airport facilities will be expected to play a more intensive role as the control center, and it might be necessary to consider the overall appropriate ‘surge capacity’ of the TIA.
The follow-up external assessment (March 2013)	Broader surveillance parameters may be considered to enable detection of non-respiratory diseases. Undertake a risk assessment to determine whether expanded measures are warranted, and whether a response protocol should be established to mitigate the risk of introduction of vectors detected in aircrafts.