“Fortunate to be alive”

Unite welcomed a decision to fine British Airways £3.2m over health and safety failings on Friday (16 May).

Two baggage handlers, both Unite members, were hurt in ‘near-identical’ incidents at Heathrow Airport while using machines used to load luggage into planes. The machines, called televators, had not been fitted with adequate protection such as guardrails to stop workers from falling.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Nobody should be seriously injured while at work and Unite welcomes the decision to convict British Airways for its failure to protect staff.

“British Airways must ensure that lessons have been learnt from these devastating incidents. Unite is committed to holding employers like BA to its legal obligations to always provide a safe working environment for airport workers through our army of health and safety reps.”

Ravinder Teji suffered back injuries and cut his head when he fell 1.5m in August 2022, then Shahjahan Malik suffered a bleed on the brain after falling 3m in March 2023. This has left him with long-term problems including chronic pain and headaches.

The prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive and the case was held at Southwark Crown Court this week, where it was ruled that in both cases British Airways was culpable.

An HSE lawyer said that both workers were “fortunate to be alive”, and the HSE investigation  found there were gaps between the televator’s guardrails and the aircraft fuselage creating the fall from height hazard, and identified a risk of employees falling from height from the front of the elevator platforms when they were being used during loading and unloading of some aircraft types.

Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death, and the HSE has detailed guidance on working safely at height.

HSE enforcement lawyer Rebecca Schwartz, who brought the prosecution, said:

“Falls from height present a real risk of death or serious, life-changing injury. Both employees are fortunate to be alive today.

“The risks of working at height and the necessary control measures are well established – in these cases adequate guardrails would have significantly reduced the risk of harm. This was a reasonably foreseeable risk that British Airways should have been aware of and therefore it should have done more to protect its employees.”

HSE inspections have taken place at Heathrow Airport, identifying risks with manual handling and maintenance of equipment as well as falls from height. These have resulted in Airlines and ground handling companies needing to take action to improve safety.

HSE guidance on baggage handling is here.

British Airways had previously pleaded guilty to two breaches of safety regulations. Meanwhile, in 2018 British Airways engineer John Coles died when his van collided with a safety vehicle near Heathrow Terminal 5 due to ‘visual interference’. 

Unite regional officer Joe McGowan said: “Working in airside ramp operations can be dangerous, which is why employers need to do more to protect workers from entirely avoidable hazards like falls from height.

“Unite believes the decision to convict and fine British Airways for these very serious offences was entirely correct. Unite is committed to ensuring that all workplaces are safe for our members.”

By Keith Hatch