Labor Inspectorate knew Schiphol baggage handlers were doing too heavy lifting: report

The Labor Inspectorate received multiple reports that baggage handlers and cargo porters at Schiphol were doing too heavy lifting, NOS and Nieuwsuur report based on internal documents. The inspectorate could have intervened as early as 2015 but did nothing with the information.

The Inspectorate told the broadcaster that its failure to act is “uncomfortable” and said it would adjust its working method around physically demanding work.

In September last year, NOS and Nieuwsuur revealed that dozens of baggage handlers and cargo porters were struggling with physical problems after years of doing too heavy work. The broadcaster and program found that the Labor Inspectorate had not inspected the airport on this point for 12 years.

At the time, the Inspectorate defended the lack of inspections by saying that it had received no reports about the physically demanding work at the airport. So the inspectors didn’t know anything was wrong. But documents NOS and Nieuwsuur received through an appeal to the Open Government Act show that the Inspectorate received at least six reports from baggage handlers and cargo porters about the excessive physically demanding work between 2015 and 2020.

One employee reported that he and his colleagues complained about the too-heavy lifting but were threatened with dismissal. Another reported having to lift boxes of up to 30 kilograms. A third said that the airport didn’t have the mandatory lifting aids for loading suitcases. “Everything has to be done manually,” and “many colleagues have back problems,” the employee reported.

The documents also show that the Inspectorate did not do a site visit after these reports, partly because it was not a “serious violation,” according to NOS. The Inspectorate now told the broadcaster that it would adjust its reporting system and give reports from employees about physically demanding work more weight in the future.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment told the broadcaster that the Inspectorate only informed it about the reports this week. In October, Minister Karien van Gennip told parliament that there were no reports from baggage handlers. After questions from the broadcaster, she wrote to parliament again on Wednesday, informing it about the reports. The Minister called it “absolutely annoying” that she could not notify parliament about them earlier.

According to NOS, internal emails show that officials at the Ministry were surprised by the fact that the Inspectorate had not inspected the situation at Schiphol in 12 years and doubted that no one complained about the physically demanding work.

Minister Van Gennip asked for “more substantiation” for the fact that there has been “no inspection for twelve years.” Inspector General Rits de Boer replied with an extensive email defending the Inspectorate. He wrote that the Inspectorate should not become a “fine machine,” referring to the childcare allowance scandal at the Tax Authority. Van Gennip wrote back that she found his argument “quite defensive” and that it seems “difficult to maintain” that the Inspectorate received no reports.