Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace, by Ellen Rosskam, Amityville, New York: Baywood Publishing Company Inc; 2007. 276 pages, $59.00 (hardcover).
This book examines the health and safety plight of airport check-in workers, most of whom are women. Drawing on an exploratory study that Rosskam and colleagues conducted post-9/11 in 3 airports-2 in Canada and 1 in Switzerland (each different with respect to size and level of mechanization for baggage handling), they suggest that check-in workers suffer similar risks as those who do computer clerical work, supermarket checkout work, and airport baggage handling.
As someone who flies regularly in her international public health work, author Rosskam became increasingly aware of conditions that suggested check-in workers might be experiencing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Unable to find any documentation about such work-related injuries/illnesses, she discussed this with the union, which represents many of these workers, the International Transport Workers Federation. The union confirmed that there was a problem. Thus, Rosskam conducted this study. It began with a questionnaire that was distributed to workers by management, completed anonymously by workers and analyzed by the author. Also, the author conducted interviews with a random sample of workers and their supervisors, focus groups with workers, employers, and airport authorities and work analyses of what workers did on their jobs. Rosskam concluded that many had developed debilitating pain in many parts of their bodies. Contributing factors were the static postures-usually while sitting--they had to endure, as well as the lifting, twisting and turning required as they put suitcases on the conveyor belts, and the limited tasks they repeated throughout their shifts.
Rosskam found that it was not only the physical forces that made this work unhealthful. She asserts there is a multifactorial etiology because check-in workers typically work in high-demand/low-control jobs. That is, their work pace and intensity has increased with reduced staffing as companies cut costs to remain competitive. Combined with little variation in work tasks, little control over work environment design (work station, lighting, etc), and how the work is organized, they now have the added task of helping passengers who become frustrated with electronic ticketing machines. This results in verbal and even sometimes physical abuse from irate customers. This creates psychological stress along with physical stressors, which have been shown to increase workers risks for MSD's.
It should be noted that this study is an exploratory one, primarily because of the very low-response rate of the workers in the questionnaire survey (50% in Ontario, 9.1% in Quebec, and 18% in Switzerland). The research team's review of the scientific literature found very few studies on airport check-in workers. However, if one were to extrapolate from the numerous studies of MSD's in supermarket checkers and computer office workers-who, to a large extent, do similar kinds of work with respect to MSD hazards-then such disorders in airport check-in workers, despite methodological limitations in this study, are probably widespread.
Notably, the results of this research has led to concrete changes in working conditions for check-in workers in some of the study airports. For example, at the airport in Ontario, Canada-a semi-mechanized airport where check-in workers lifted and carried more than 30,000 pounds daily-the local union and management fully mechanized the airport's check-in stations, eliminating the need for check-in workers to lift and carry bags. The airport in Switzerland increased the check-in workers' task variety so they now do less repetitive work. And, the author notes that the International Transport Workers Federation union, which represents 600,000 aviation workers in 110 countries, disseminated the study's findings to their collective bargaining agents. Rosskam and her team's pioneering work has resulted in some primary prevention actions in this industry, with hopefully, more to come.
-Marianne Brown, MPH
Former Director, UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, Los Angeles, CA