British Airways has been fined more than £3 million after two employees fell from height and sustained serious injuries.
The airline was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following two separate incidents at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.
On 25 August 2022, a 54-year-old employee had been unloading baggage containers from an aircraft when he slipped off a televator and landed 1.5 metres onto the ground below. He suffered serious back and head injuries, including a fractured vertebra, as a result.
The HSE investigation found there were gaps between the televator's guardrails and the aircraft fuselage, the size of which depended on the type of aircraft, creating the fall from height hazard. The gaps increased in size after the front of the televators' platforms at Terminal 5 were extended, but additional measures to prevent falls from height had not been implemented.
At the time of the incident, British Airways had started a programme to retrofit extendable guardrails to televators in response to previous HSE visits. This was completed following the incident.
In the second incident, a British Airways worker sustained head injuries, including a fractured jaw and bleeding on the brain, while unloading baggage containers from an aircraft following its arrival from Seattle on 8 March 2023. The 43-year-old fell from an elevator and landed three metres onto the ground below.
Both employees were taken to the hospital for treatment and had to take several months off work.
The HSE investigation into this incident identified a risk of employees falling from height from the front of the elevator platforms when they were being used during the loading and unloading of some aircraft types. Flaps on either side of the platform would be left folded down, leaving a gap between the platform and the aircraft fuselage.
It also found that the elevator’s operator platform had not been fully extended towards the aircraft, creating a gap through which employees could fall.
Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death. HSE has detailed guidance on working safely at height, while the Civil Aviation Authority has guidance with input from HSE on ground handling activities, including aircraft loading.
British Airways PLC pleaded guilty to two charges under Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735, was fined £1.33 million in relation to the August 2022 incident, and £1.875 million in relation to the March 2023 incident. The company was also ordered to pay £20,935.
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".
