Ground handling safety events can have serious and expensive consequences, involving injuries and even deaths, causing operational delays as well as damage to aircraft and equipment. Ensuring that ground operation activities are performed safely is a priority for all stakeholders on ground.

Three safety performance indicators were developed, based on ground occurrences in the IATA Incident Data eXchange (IDX): 

  1. Injuries and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
  2. Aircraft ground damage
  3. Load and loading errors

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)

IATA is continuously driving various initiatives aiming to prevent injuries, aircraft damages and promoting a safety culture. Through an industry collaboration such as working closely with GOS (Ground Operations Standards) working group members data from safety events are being analyzed, hazards are identified, and training and procedures are enhanced. As a result of this collaborative effort, the most frequently reported injuries were identified as follows: slips, trips and falls, struck against object, lift/carry, push/pull and fall from heights (not frequent but the most severe).  

To prevent the injuries, an industry prevention program has been put in place to:

  • Enhance the AHM guidelines for Occupational Health and Safety and Human Factor 
  • Map the processes and operational phases where injuries occur
  • Identify  the Ground Service Equipment (GSE) and other equipment involved in injuries 
  • Evaluate the relevance of existing policies, procedures, training in AHM/ IGOM and drive relevant enhancement
  • Identify cause and preventive measures
  • Develop an awareness campaign for industry

Safety Bulletins

Safety bulletins are introduced to promote awareness and prevent most frequent injuries and safety occurrences. 

  1. Fall from Height Injuries (pdf)
  2. Safe Working around Equipment (pdf)

Aircraft Ground Damage

Aircraft ground damage is a significant issue as it can compromise the safety of passengers and airport personnel. It also has a high financial impact on airlines’ budgets and can seriously disrupt operations. One of the main causes of aircraft ground damage is ground support equipment (GSE) operations. The key GSE types causing ground damage are passenger stairs, ULD-loaders, and belt-loaders with belt-loaders causing the most severe damage. Our recent ground damage study estimates that the annual cost of ground damage could double to nearly $10 billion by 2035 unless preventive action is taken. 

IATA works with industry partners to implement strategies and programs to address such issues, with the result that our Airport Handling Manual (AHM) already advises the design and use of GSE anti-collision systems (Enhanced GSE) as a best practice, with many airlines, and ground handlers seeing the first benefits. 

To accelerate the transition to Enhanced GSE, IATA has launched the IATA Enhanced GSE Recognition Program where the GSE fleets are assessed and validated to conform with criteria set to reduce ground damage. Upon successful assessment, the GHSP is presented with a certificate and a recognition stamp for specific airport valid for 2 years.

To find out more about the program download the Enhanced GSE Recognition Program booklet and to request an assessment of the GSE fleet contact us at: groundops@iata.org

Load and loading errors

An important aspect of the safety of flight is the aircraft load being correctly distributed. Although many loading systems exist, this is still a very manual process and subject to fundamental flaws as handwriting reading errors and misunderstanding of verbal instructions. The  IATA Incident Data eXchange (IDX) data analysis reveals several issues contributing to loading errors such as load restrains, load reconciliation, over/under carried baggage/cargo, and incorrect weight B/C/M.

IATA works with aviation stakeholders to address these concerns and recommends to: 

  • Review and reinforce tools/processes/training focusing on communication between load control and ramp staff 
  • Reinforce reconciliation process by enabling staff to check and document each of the steps during loading and unloading 
  • Implement a digital solution addressing load reconciliation