Schiphol baggage handlers will be fined for not giving workers heavy lifting aids

Six baggage handling companies that operate at Schiphol Airport will be fined if they do not meet the requirements to provide workers with assistance and relief, including the use of devices to assist with heavy lifting, the Labor Inspectorate said on Thursday. The inspectorate promised the companies would be slapped with an order subject to periodic penalty payments.

If the companies do not heed the warning and make improvements, the penalties will take effect in fifteen days. The fines differ per company. The highest is 65,000 euros per month.

In March, the Inspectorate determined that the baggage handlers at Schiphol must immediately deploy lifting aids for employees who are required to perform heavy lifting. None of the companies that deal with the airport's passenger baggage were "taking sufficient measures to reduce the physical strain," the Labor Inspectorate wrote at the time. That was also true at the gates and terminals, where aircraft are loaded and unloaded.

At the end of April, the Inspectorate visited the companies again. Inspectors found that lifting aids were missing or not being used. "This physical strain poses a risk to the health and safety of employees," the regulator writes.

The companies then received a letter in which the Labor Inspectorate announced that it was going to impose an order subject to periodic penalty payments. They were given two weeks to respond.Incidentally, Schiphol announced last week that it was testing a number of new aid systems for baggage handling, including a robot that can move suitcases aside to the baggage carousel. A lifting robot is being tested in collaboration with baggage handling firm Aviapartner.

The robot was originally used in other companies such as bakeries, but has been further developed for use at an airport. Schiphol expects it to be able to lift at least 80 percent of the suitcases, but is aiming for 90 percent.

The robot that can help push suitcases aside is currently being tested at KLM. It is intended to be located between an aircraft's baggage hold and a baggage transport. As a result, less lifting is required by those workers at a position where there currently is no available lifting aids.