The British airline British Airways (BA) has been fined £3,2 million (approximately €3,74 million) after two baggage handlers sustained serious injuries in separate falls at London's Heathrow Airport.
The incidents, which were described as "almost identical," resulted from falls from so-called televators - devices used to load aircraft - and were due to the lack of adequate safety precautions such as guard rails.
Two workers suffered serious injuries
One of the affected workers suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and facial fractures, while the other sustained back and head injuries. Southwark Crown Court found the airline guilty of breaching safety regulations and assessed the fine as severe. The fine followed a prosecution by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
A British Airways spokesperson expressed "deep regret" over the incidents and stated that both employees have since returned to work in new roles. The HSE investigations revealed that the televators used in both cases had significant design defects. Gaps existed between the devices' guardrails and the aircraft fuselage, the size of which varied depending on the aircraft type. These gaps increased after the front sections of the platforms in Terminal 5 were extended to provide better access to the aircraft's cargo holds—but without implementing additional fall prevention measures.
Lack of safety precautions as a cause
According to the HSE, at the time of the first accident in August 2022, British Airways had already begun a program to retrofit retractable guard rails on its televators, after the agency had previously highlighted the safety deficiencies. However, this program was not completed until after the first incident. HSE prosecutor Andrew McGee told the court that the first worker, Ravinder Teji, fell approximately 1,5 meters while loading luggage from a short-haul flight, sustaining back injuries and a head injury.
The second worker, Shahjahan Malik, fell three meters while unloading a flight from Seattle and suffered more serious injuries, including a brain hemorrhage and facial fractures. Judge Brendan Finucane KC emphasized that he was "satisfied that the degree of culpability in both incidents was high." He fined British Airways and ordered it to pay £20.935 in legal costs and £120 in victim compensation. HSE lawyer Rebecca Schwartz stated after the hearing that the affected workers were lucky to be alive.
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