According to the Verdi union, the hand luggage control devices at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport are said to be quite dangerous. Employees have suffered electric shocks more than 60 times. The employee representatives call for immediate action.
Obviously nobody knows what exactly is wrong with the devices. Verdi explains that employees in Terminal 1, which officially opened at the end of October 2020, have had accidents at work in the form of electric shocks. The security guards are said to have felt "severe pain, numbness and drowsiness". In individual cases, medical sick leave is said to have occurred even after the accidents. The rescue service also had to be alerted repeatedly.
The Verdi union writes: “The accidents occur on all baggage control devices in Terminal 1 at the new BER airport and can also affect passengers if they come into contact”. It is required that the security controls with the - possibly - defective devices are stopped immediately. The BER line does not even think about that, but explains that there has been "increased occurrence of electrostatic charges".
At Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, it is not the airport, but the Federal Police that is legally responsible for carrying out the security checks. This also means that the staff work through a security company on behalf of the executive and not the BER company. Incidentally, the professional group is formally called "aviation security assistants". A spokesman for BER explains: "We know that the responsible authorities of the Federal Police have taken various measures that have already led to a significant reduction in electrostatic discharges".