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• Corus unions plan ‘orchestrated action’
• Unite's ‘pack less’ campaign bears fruit as HSE agrees to look at risks for baggage handlers
• Tory sums don't add up and the party’s policies don't make sense
• Stop using Cadbury's workers as a political football, Unite tells Midlands Tories
• Unite calls for ballot on Tower Hamlets’ plans to hive off NHS services to a social enterprise
• Culture of clergy bullying ‘needs to be tackled’, says Unite

Unite's ‘pack less’ campaign bears fruit as HSE agrees to look at risks for baggage handlers

17th February 2010

Unite has welcomed a new initiative by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that aims to look at the risks involved in airline baggage handling.

The initiative follows a European day of action on Friday, 12th February when unions representing baggage handlers across Europe called on passengers to 'pack less' in their bags to prevent the high levels of injuries to baggage handlers who lift the equivalent to the weight of an elephant every day.

Unite will be meeting with the HSE to discuss the new initiative which is due to start in the spring and will initially focus on airports in London and the south east, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted.

Steve Turner, Unite national officer, said: “Unite is very pleased that the HSE is going to look again at the risks facing baggage handlers who are five times more likely than any other worker to suffer serious injuries.

“The HSE can play a vital role in ensuring that the many different airlines and baggage service companies do all they can to reduce the risks facing baggage handlers.

“However, the most obvious and easily enforceable way to cut injuries is to reduce the weight of checked-in bags. That's why we are calling for a maximum baggage weight of 23kg.”

Unite’s 'pack less' campaign is calling on airlines to introduce a maximum individual bag weight of 23kg, a call backed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Aviation Industry Committee and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The current limit is 32kg per bag.

The European Commission is currently looking into introducing regulations to reduce the amount of musculo-skeletal injuries suffered by workers across Europe. Unite will be putting pressure on the government to ensure that the safety of ground handling staff is addressed at a European level.

Unite has had some success in getting the airline industry to introduce the new lighter weight. Thompson Holidays, the UK’s largest holiday charter company, has recently introduced a 23kg maximum bag weight for all its customers. Other airlines have also made moves to address the issue, often by charging passengers additional fees when checking in heavy bags, but the union believes more needs to be done and that a consistently applied and enforceable industry standard should be adopted.

ENDS