Ramp Safety

A ramp or apron is a central part of any airport because it is a parking space for aircrafts. It is also a place for boarding and disembarking of passengers as well as the loading and unloading of baggage and freight. With so much activities going on at the same time and the disregard of safety regulations by ground personnel it has become a dangerous workplace. Due to high recurrence of accidents and incidents, people working in that particular area face great risk of being injured or killed while aircrafts are vulnerable to get wreck. The adverse consequences of ramp accidents to human lives are alarming. On the other hand, Airlines suffer tremendous losses spending billions of dollars repairing damages to their aircrafts. The Flight Safety Foundation (ASF) estimated that every year at least 27,000 ramp accidents take place around the world at a rate of one per 1,000 departures and that 243,000 people are injured annually in these accidents at a rate of nine per 1,000 departures. Damages to aircrafts can cost corporate aircraft operators at least $2 billion a year according to Boeing.

The scope of the problem is serious enough to warrant immediate measures to create a hazard-free zone on the ramps by adopting a new system of effective safety management that will include risk assessment, hazard analysis, and an improved organizational culture. Studies have shown that mishaps during ramp operations are preventable if ground personnel and flight crew follow regulations and use a lot of common sense. Research also found out that the human factor is mainly responsible for all types of airport ground accidents. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA) human or operator error was the primary cause in 92% of accidents involving ramp damage to aircraft or terminal buildings. Moreover, inadequate training and supervision, failure to follow standard procedures, and work pressures were the primary causes related to operator error (AOSP, 2004, p. 7). The aviation industry must instill the importance of safety as a way of life in its organization and that management must be committed to make ramps safe for airline workers. Furthermore, ground accidents should receive the same level of attention as those occurring in-flights. Unreported ramp incidents could lead to accidents that are more serious.

Ramp Operations

 Aircraft ground handling is a complex work environment involving a series of tasks such as refueling, marshalling and chocking of arriving airplanes, catering, lavatory and cabin cleaning, baggage handling, cargo loading, aircraft towing and pushback, performing maintenance and inspections. Likewise various types of equipment and trucks operate in the area making the ramp the busiest place in the airport. What’s more a large number of workers in different disciplines – aircrew, baggage handlers, caterers, cleaners, engineers, refuellers, toilet and water service staff, and truck and tug drivers – are working at their specific tasks in a noisy environment in all weather and all light conditions, day and night. Each is under pressure to complete those tasks within a tight time frame, sometimes with little or no communication with other groups involved in ramp operations (FSA, 2002, p. 36). If all the activities in the ramp are not synchronized accidents, from ordinary to dangerous, are bound to happen.

Most ramp incidents take place during the arrival where aircrafts encounter obstacles like lack of verbal communication. More often communication between the flight crew and ground personnel is limited to visual or hand signaling, which could lead to accidents if misinterpreted. Perhaps due to inexperience or stress some marshals execute incorrect signaling while other pilots admit to responding erroneously to instructions given by the ground crew. Maneuvering to park an airplane takes a lot of coordination and guidance. The situation becomes even more difficult when the ramp is congested with other aircrafts. Any false instruction or miscommunication could result in the collision of two airplanes. Most incidents of aircraft damage are due to carelessness of some workers such as not following the speed limit in the ramp or improperly parking their ground equipment. Sometimes large jets are forced to enter the gates intended for smaller aircraft. According to Boeing majority of accidents, happen at the Gate Stop (43%) then at the Gate Entry Exit (39%), and outside the Gate Entry (18%) as illustrated below.

There are several reasons why ramp accidents happen frequently. A review of ramp operations suggests a lack of overall consistency in standards, operating practices and management (Enders, 1993, p. 2). First, workers usually do not abide by the regulations because of lack of supervision or poor self-discipline. Second, bad weather conditions limit the performance of ground crew. Third, most personnel cannot focus on their job due to the dynamic nature of the ramp where everything is always in constant motion. They get distracted too often. Fourth, a number of ramp workers do not receive enough safety training that they get involve in accidents like incorrect use of ground handling equipment. Fifth, due to increase number of flights ramps become packed with aircrafts adding to the seriousness of the problem where damage to airplanes, equipment, and structures is certain to take place. Sixth, most of these accidents are caused by the human factor derived from fatigue, pressures, misjudgment, ignorance, and obscured vision, among others. Other ramp guidance issues include lack of crew to navigate the movements of aircrafts, unreadable signs, poor lighting system, and wrong parking instructions from the Air Traffic Controller.

Injuries and Fatalities to Workers

Airport ramps are unique and potentially hazardous work environments. Servicing, maintaining, and supporting aircraft operations require all-weather efforts and minimal aircraft turnaround time by cargo handlers, fuelers, lavatory and water system servicers, catering support, snow removal workers, Government representatives, aircraft and equipment servicers, maintenance workers, and others. Work is fast paced to meet airline schedules. Ramps are congested, noisy, and packed with a diverse fleet of vehicles, traveling at a variety of speeds (USDOT, 2002, p. 1). Cases of injuries and deaths are too familiar to those who work in that area. However, the overall effect of ramp accidents to workers is extensive and can be attributed to non-compliance of basic procedures. Following is the finding of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the number of injured and deaths that occurred in 21 airports from 1987-2002.

        Injured Party      Fatalities  Serious Injuries  Minor Injuries       Passengers           2           11                30       Cockpit crew         1           1                 2       Flight Attendants    0           5                 6       Ground Workers      14          36                45

The data clearly shows that ramp workers are the sole losers in many accidents. These serious injuries often resulted in permanent disfigurement or loss-of-limb. Being struck by a moving vehicle such as tractor/tugs, vans, truck, cart, dolly, and cargo/jet veyor is the most common cause of injury or even hit by a landing gear. Workers also get injured or killed by propellers especially during nighttime. A report from the National Transportation Safety Board showed that from 1982 to 2006, there were 137 incidents of people struck by airplane propellers or rotor blades.

Another contributing factor is that workers could get sucked inside a running engine or blown away by a jet blast. Failure of equipment to operate correctly such as loss of brake almost threatens everyone’s safety in the ramp. Due to high levels of accidents in ramps, airlines have now the highest number of days for lost work. According to data assembled by DuPont Safety Resources from US Dept. of Labor statistics, the US industry average for lost work cases is 2.8 per 100 employees but the airline industry rate is 10.1-worse than any other industry including risky occupations such as mining (2.5), lumber (6.4), primary metal industries (5.9) and chemicals (2) (Thomas, 2003, p. 2). The Airport Council International (ACI) is one of several organizations collecting and analyzing data on injuries cause by ramp accidents. Annually it conducts surveys among its more than 550 members operating in over 1,442 airports in 165 countries to raise the level of safety consciousness of airport workers across the world. In its resolution regarding safety at airports, ACI calls upon civil aviation administrations and airlines to report all incidents and accidents occurring in the ramps. 

Damages to Aircrafts

Besides ground personnel, aircrafts, airport structures, and equipment are at risk of being damaged during ramp operations. It is a multi-billion dollar problem for airlines having to face both the direct and indirect costs of the damages. Direct costs are money spent in repairing damaged parts of airplanes while indirect costs are lost revenues because of the accident. ASF said that for every dollar spent in repairs the indirect costs is five times more. This is because of lost ticket sales and cargo shipments; flight cancellations and aircraft diversions; management and supervision time; adverse impact on operations (productivity and schedule efficiency); employee relations and overall company morale; seat purchases on other airlines for stranded passengers; pain and suffering for those injured and their families; incident investigations; passenger food and lodging; and total costs of workplace injuries (Vandel, 2004, p. 8). These expenditures for repairs could have been used for research and the development of safety programs. The illustration below shows the average costs of repair or replacement for a typical Boeing airplane.

One usual incident involves a catering truck hitting an airplane. The cost for repairs was $17,000 while the indirect cost reached $247,000. Contact between aircrafts and ground equipment accounts for 80% of ramp accidents/incidents. However, incidents of equipment to equipment damage comprise the overall non-human accidents in the ramps followed by equipment to facility damage, damage by moving aircraft, and damage caused by jet blast. Most frequent parts damaged in airplanes are the cargo door, fuselage, engine, passenger door, wing tip, landing gear, wing trailing edge, and cargo hold. The current estimate is that ramp accidents are costing major airlines worldwide at least $10 billion a year (Lacagnina, 2007, p. 21), which is equivalent to more than 20 Boeing 747-400s. The amount covers aircraft damages of about $4.2 billion and for sustained injuries of about $5.8 billion.

Experiences of some Airlines during Ramp Accidents

On October 1, 1997, a Ryan International Airlines Boeing 727-51C was struck by an airport employee shuttle bus while taxiing for takeoff in a non-movement area at Denver International Airport, Colorado, U.S. One pilot was seriously injured, one pilot received minor injuries, the shuttle bus driver received minor injuries, and the two bus passengers were not injured. The captain was trapped in the crushed cockpit; his lower legs, the right kneecap and right ankle were fractured. The airplane, on a domestic cargo flight, was destroyed (FSF, 2000, p. 4).  The collision happened during predawn hours. Both the bus driver and the pilots did not see each other until impact.

In another incident, a captain of a Boeing 727 narrated his harrowing experience just after landing in Australia. Arriving at the gate, I left number one engine running while off-loading passengers, because we could not get the aircraft to accept external power. However, the senior flight attendant came running up the aisle calling to us to shut down the engine, because somebody was sucked inside. We shut it down and rushed out to investigate.

The catering supervisor by this time was removed from the engine intake. He said he did not know the engine was running! The engine suffered foreign object damage, and the caterer suffered a number of broken ribs, but amazingly avoided injury that was more serious. Thanks to the quick intervention by the cabin and flight crew. A company report said: “The engine had been left on idle power while maintenance staff attempted to get ground power to the aircraft. The aircraft’s upper and lower beacons were on to alert all ramp personnel that one or more engines were operating. The station procedures required that the aft galley be serviced though the left aft exit, and catering had parked the truck next to that exit. As the catering supervisor approached the aircraft door from the walkway of the elevated catering truck, he was immediately sucked into the turning engine (FSA, 2002, p. 35).

Safety Programs

Compared a decade ago, accidents and incidents in ramp have been reduced but there are still many areas that need to be addressed so that airlines, operators, and airports can enhance their safety nets. Despite the many safety programs, safety awareness campaign, and the use of technology, mishaps continue to take place. Repeatedly there are inconsistencies in the implementation of standards and policies. Ramp operations should be organized where all workers are part of a system trying to carry their specific jobs at the right time, at the right place. What happens is that everyone is so busy performing their duties not giving attention to the others. There is poor coordination among the different agencies and personnel inside the ramp. Accidents and incidents are inevitable due to the human factor that compromises safety. However, these can be avoided with the right attitude and management system through training and strict enforcement of regulations.

As a cornerstone of the aviation industry, safety programs should concentrate towards reducing human error. A big portion of today’s safety programs is mostly devoted to enforcement of procedures and analysis of data regarding injuries, deaths, and damages. The principles written in many of these safety programs are primarily to prevent financial losses. This is understandable because of the huge amount of money spent in repairs, insurance, and lost opportunity in revenues. This does not really solve the problem because the root of all accidents and incidents lies within the person doing ramp operations. Therefore, the focus of safety programs should be the improvement of human error management. More and more employees should be involved in safety management and in each stage of the process so that they would be able to remove the obstacles that cause their unsafe behavior. In this way, ramp workers would be well motivated and capable of making right judgments as well as responsible for all their actions knowing that any mistakes they make could affect the entire industry.

To summarize, workers should be able to instill in themselves the culture of safety. As Dr. Assad Kotaite, Council President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), said “It takes more than standards and regulations to prevent accidents”. Effective safety initiative involves a combination of the fundamental tools of hazard control (incident investigation, ground safety reports, safety training, active safety committee, compliance to safety policy, and hazard reporting) and the commitment of various stakeholders. Above all safety management on the ramps should promote open communication to avoid conflicting messages and encourage voluntary reporting of irregularities or unsafe work practices.

For ramps to be danger free, employees must always bear in mind the Safety First slogan. It is very obvious that because of them accidents happen. To this day, practically most safety programs formulated are now set in place, modified, and implemented. The management of the airline industry has been imposing standards to their employees providing them with the much needed protection to ensure safety. To be completely safe during ramp operations, management and employees should work closely together for the greater good of the industry and for the welfare of future generations of ramp workers. However, all these depend solely on the attitude and skills of every employee.

References

AOSP (Airport Operations Safety Panel). (2004). Reducing Accidents and Improving

Safety on the Ramp. A Report on the Safety of Airport Operations. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://armbrustaviation.com/archives/aosp_archives/aosp_04_06_15.pdf

FSA (Flight Safety Australia). (2002). What’s the damage? The True Cost of Ramp. Ramp Operations. Flight Safety Australia, January – February, 2002. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.casa.gov.au/fsa/2002/jan/34-38.pdf

Enders, J. H. (1993). Ramp Operations Hold Key to Overall Flight Safety Level. Flight Safety Foundation. Airport Operations. Vol. 19 No. 2. March-April 1993. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.flightsafety.org/ao/ao_mar-apr93.pdf

USDOT (U.S. Department of Transportation). (2002). Injuries and Fatalities of Workers

Struck by Vehicles on Airport Aprons. Report to Congress. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/resources/publications/reports/media/vehicle_injuries.pdf

Thomas, G. (2003). Danger Zone. Air Transport World. Safety and Security Channel. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.iamaw2323.ca/safety/articles/ATW_RampAccidents.pdf

Vandel, B. (2004). Equipment Damage and Human Injury on the Apron: Is it a Cost of doing Busines? Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.asasi.org/papers/2004/Vandel_Ramp%20Damage_ISASI04.pdf

Lacagnina, M. (2007). Defusing the Ramp. Progress Report on FSF Efforts to Stem the Toll of Ground Accidents. Flight Safety Foundation. Aerosafety World, May 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.flightsafety.org/asw/may07/asw_may07_p20-24.pdf

FSF (Flight Safety Foundation). (2000). Airfield Driver Training, Enforcement Help Prevent Aircraft-Vehicle Collisions. Airport Operations. Vol. 26 No. 5, September-October 2000. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www.flightsafety.org/ao/ao_sept_oct00.pdf