COMMON ACCIDENTS AMONG AIRPORT GROUND PERSONNEL

Work-related accidents at the airport are common, but the incidence an d type of such events occurring in aviation ground personnel have not been reported previously. Information regarding the most common ground accidents at the airport is essential in order to implement preventio n programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the descriptive e pidemiology of injury-producing accidents among ground personnel at a modern airline. In this study we recorded all reported accidents occur ring over a 5-year period (1988-92) to workers of a major airline in I srael that resulted in 3 d or more of absence from work. During the st udy period 523 work-related accidents occurred in 2000 ground workers. The most common accidents were due to slips, trips and Tails (n = 211 , 40.3%), lifting and carrying accidents (n = 107, 20.4%), and machine ry accidents (n = 98, 18.7%). Work transport accidents and accidents f rom physical and chemical exposures were less common (n = 67, 12.8%, a nd n = 40, 7.5%, respectively). The accident rate decreased from 71 ac cidents/1000 worker-years in 1988 to between 40-56 accidents/1000 work er-years in the subsequent 4-year period (p = 0.0002). We conclude tha t slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of accidents in air port ground personnel. Further studies in other airports are warranted to confirm our findings.