Safety Issue or Security Breach?

Airports are extremely strenuous and high paced environments. Unfortunately, accidents and incidents occur on daily basis. There are numerous reasons enumerated as catalysts for the above(which will be discussed later)but let us a take look at the most commonly cited.
I myself, recently discovered the twist to these two, and it baffles me to think about just why I couldn't get it right! Safety and Security ,are one of the most wrongly used terms in aviation or anywhere else. Its quite a common site to note an aviation professional, student, employer or employee misusing these terms by using them interchangeably in sentences. Whether or not we agree it is done consciously, that shouldn't be the case at all. The bottom line is, Safety and Security are not the same. Yes. And so are their respective principles.

What is the difference then? Safety is the condition of being free from, or unlikely to cause risk or injury to someone or equipment. And in this case, safety refers to all the processes involved in preventing injury to passengers or ground staff, or causing damage to the aircraft, vehicles, or infrastructure within the airport. Safety measures are implemented through the introduction of Safety Management Systems, prescribed the International Air Transport Association(IATA) and is achieved on the ground by following Standard Operating Procedures outlining standardized safety precautions such as wearing appropriate PPEs(Personal Protective Equipment),reporting damaged or faulty Ground Support Equipment(GSE),checking and removing Foreign Object Debris (FODs),installing optimal runway lighting systems among others.

Personal Protective Equipment

However Security answers a completely different set of questions. Questions like "did you pack the bags yourself?", "Has anyone asked you to carry this aboard the aircraft?" or "Are you carrying any contraband items?" are all Security questions. These are questions meant to weed out people considered as treats and to keep them off the flight. Unlike Safety, Security focuses on exposing threats and nullifies them. In other words, it is the responsibility of Security Officials to prevent lawful interference such as terrorist threats, smuggling narcotic or contraband items.

Just like Safety, Airports have also implemented Security procedures at every point in an airport to prevent illegal penetration into their systems. This includes the use of Identification Cards, Security Screening Points, Controlled Access to certain areas, Security cameras and monitoring systems, among others.

Security is more concerned about "Are you a threat?" rather than "Will this be safe to operate?"
There is a huge distinction between the two, although they both are equally important. The question now is, which comes first, Safety or Security?
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