Common accidents among airport ground personnel

Work-related accidents at the airport are common, but the incidence and type of such events occurring in aviation ground personnel have not been reported previously. Information regarding the most common ground accidents at the airport is essential in order to implement prevention programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the descriptive epidemiology of injury-producing accidents among ground personnel at a modern airline. In this study we recorded all reported accidents occurring over a 5-year period (1988-92) to workers of a major airline in Israel that resulted in 3 d or more of absence from work. During the study period 523 work-related accidents occurred in 2000 ground workers. The most common accidents were due to slips, trips and falls (n = 211, 40.3%), lifting and carrying accidents (n = 107, 20.4%), and machinery accidents (n = 98, 18.7%). Work transport accidents and accidents from physical and chemical exposures were less common (n = 67, 12.8%, and n = 40, 7.5%, respectively). The accident rate decreased from 71 accidents/1,000 worker-years in 1988 to between 40-56 accidents/1,000 worker-years in the subsequent 4-year period (p = 0.0002). We conclude that slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of accidents in airport ground personnel. Further studies in other airports are warranted to confirm our findings.