Security breach in Nice airport - Safety and security illustrated

On a very recent flight out of Nice airport, on the french riviera, I could observe a security breach. I report this story here to illustrate the way security and safety are dealt with in air-transport industry, and that even the stronger system is only as strong as its weakest element.

I don't know anything about how security is handled in Nice, but I've quite an idea how important access control is, particularly regarding access of passengers to planes. The security system is supposed to prevent any unauthorized access to planes or airside areas. As any system, it is made of equipments (doors, locks, badge readers, ...), procedures (who is allowed to open, what to monitor, close behind yourself, ...) and humans (staff, crews, ...).

This is often depicted as a triangle, and each possible risk relates to one of the angles, and is mitigated by one or both of the others. Typically, there are special procedures to cover an equipment failure, humans are monitoring the automatics in the equipment, and so on...

Now that we described the basic approach, let me tell you what I saw today while waiting for boarding. An airline crew was going to its plane via the waiting hall. For an unclear reason, they were not accompanied by any groud staff (procedure ?). Apparently the captain knew how to unlock the gate.

One of the flight attendant opened the second gate as the rest of the crew were going thourgh the first one. The captain probably did not saw that the second gate has been opened, but when the whole crew continued on its way to the airplane, this second gate remained open.

The abnormal thing here is that the flight attendant who opened the second gate did not closed it (human), and no-one crosschecked it (procedure / human). This gate remained open for approximately 45 minutes. There is an equipment question here, as there could be an alarm or a limit to the time a non-staffed gate can be open.

As a matter of fact, this gate was open without being staffed nor monitored for about 45 minutes, until I mentionned it to the boarding agent of my own flight when I did get on.

The question is then "how to make the system better, without preventing any business activity, and at affordable price ?". This is a very important question in the security and safety domains. Not leaving crews getting to their planes unaccompanied ? Not sure the airport can afford the necessary staff... Ring an alarm if a gate is opened without being staffed ? This could lead to tons of wrong alarms, and the equipment cost could be quite high. Insist on security in crews / staff recurent training ? Probably a good solution...