Baggage Handlers Research Articles

Brown: The Last Discovery of America (review)

It had been almost thirty years since I'd been in Los Angeles when I flew out to California from the Midwest to attend the 1987 convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, and from the time I landed to the moment my committee meeting began the next morning, I felt as if I were visiting a foreign country. I lived and worked in the rural center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula; in my community I knew of only one black family and at my university, in a dozen years of teaching, I'd had no more than a dozen "minority" students in the thousands I'd taught. In L.A., among baggage handlers, cashiers, taxi drivers, hotel clerks, waitresses, and salespersons, everyone who spoke to me used English with Meso-American, Caribbean, African, and Asian inflection; I met no one who spoke unaccented American English until I entered the room with my fellow English teachers. I was the Midwest representative on the NCTE Committee on Affiliates and the topic for our annual meeting this year was "diversity." It was a theme our committee embodied—I was one of two or three white men and among the other nine or ten members were several "women of color." When I told them of my monocultural hometown and my unbroken string of multicultural encounters in L.A., the Hispanic woman opposite me nodded sagely and the black woman next to me put her hand on my shoulder, leaned forward with a grin, and said, "Welcome to America, honey."

User-Perceived Level-of-Service Evaluation Model for Airport Baggage-Handling Systems

Background research shows that the design standards for baggage-handling systems (BHSs) do not consider the level of service (LOS) as perceived by the passengers. Moreover, it is evident that a national strategy for defining the LOS of BHSs and the means to improve it are lacking. An LOS model that can ascertain the LOS being achieved by the BHS would be beneficial to airlines, passengers, and airport designers. Such a model would enable airport authorities and airlines to determine when improvements are required and to develop a strategy for implementing the needed changes. In a study performed at six Canadian airports, more than 800 passengers rated the LOS provided by the overall BHS and its components. The results confirm that traditional time and space standards currently used by aviation agencies, airports, airlines, and baggage handlers are not adequate. Subsequently, a user-perceived LOS model was developed and should be useful in evaluating BHSs nationwide.

Strength capability while kneeling

Work sometimes has to be carried out kneeling, particularly where jobs are performed in confined spaces as is common for miners, aircraft baggage handlers and maintenance workers. In order to assess the risks in performing forceful tasks under such conditions, data is needed on strength capabilities of kneeling subjects. A study was undertaken to measure isometric strength in single-handed exertions for male subjects and to investigate the effects on this of task layout factors (direction of force exertion, reach distance, height of the workpiece and orientation relative to the subject's sagittal plane). The data has been tabulated to show the degree to which strength may be reduced in different situations and analysis of the task factors showed their influence to be complex with direction of exertion and reach distance having the greatest effect. The results also suggest that exertions are weaker when subjects are kneeling on two knees than when kneeling on one knee, although this needs to be confirmed by direct experimental comparison.

Baggage handling postures and the design of conveyors

The main purpose of this study was to determine the height, angle and velocity of conveyors for baggage handling at Schiphol Airport. These variables have a great influence on the postures and workload of baggage handlers. One hundred and seven healthy male baggage handlers participated in a test, during which a regular baggage handling task was simulated with a mock-up. Eighteen combinations of heights, angles and velocities were tested. Data on postures were collected with the aid of task recording and analysis on computer (TRAC). The minimal volume of open space under the conveyor was determined with light cells that scored the positions of legs and feet of the subjects. In addition, opinions from the baggage handlers were gathered with a questionnaire, immediately after the test. Finally the number of selection errors made and the number of bags that fell off the conveyor were noted, to make sure that ergonomics improvements did not reduce the quality of baggage handling. On the basis of these three information sources, alternative conveyor dimensions were recommended, which are expected to improve the working conditions of the baggage handlers, without any reduction in the quality of work.

Restructuring and Workplace Unionism at Manchester Airport

AbstractThis paper provides evidence from empirical case‐study research into the impact of compulsory competitive tendering on workplace union organization among the baggage‐handling workforce at Manchester Airport. It documents the main processes of development within an historical context, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of workplace unionism during the 1980s, the recent challenge posed by managerial restructuring in the early 1990s, and the wider implications for debates about the ‘state’ of workplace unionism in Britain today.Compared with the union resilience displayed by the baggage handlers during the 1980s, the nature of shop‐stewards' organization appears to have changed drastically to managemenťs advantage during the last few years. However, continuing underlying tensions in worker‐management relations suggest that this situation may not necessarily amount to a fundamental and irreversible transformation in the nature of workplace unionism in the manner in which those who use the vocabulary of the ‘New Industrial Relations’ would suggest.

An evaluation of a weightlifting belt and back injury prevention training class for airline baggage handlers

This study evaluated the efficacy of a commercially available weightlifting belt in relation to reduction of lumbar injury incident rate and severity of injuries over an 8-month period. The study used 642 baggage handlers working for a major airline company as participants. Four treatment groups were randomly selected: a group receiving the belt only, a group receiving a 1 h training class only, a group receiving both a belt and a 1 h training class, and a control group receiving nothing. Two treatment groups were added which contained participants who discontinued use of the belt prior to the end of an 8-month study period. Results indicated that there were no significant differences for total lumbar injury incident rate, restricted workday case injury incident rate, lost workdays and restricted workdays rate, and worker's compensation rates. There was, however, a marginal significant difference for lost workday case injury incident rate. Groups with participants who wore the belt for a while then discontinued its use had a higher lost day case injury incident rate than did either the group receiving training only or the control group. Compliance was an overriding factor as the belt questionnaire response indicated that 58% of participants in the belt groups discontinued use of the belt before the end of 8 months. Comments made on the survey forms indicated that the belt was too hot. Similarly, comments suggested that the belt rubbed, pinched, and bruised ribs. Based on these results, the weightlifting belt used for this study cannot be recommended for use in aid of lifting during daily work activities of baggage handlers. Results indicate that use of the belts may, in fact, increase the risk of injury when not wearing a belt following a period of wearing a belt. As industries are experimenting with the use of belts, it is recommended that great care be taken in any further evaluation and close attention directed towards injuries which occur when not wearing the belt following a period of wearing the belt (ie, off-the-job injuries).