British Airways has been fined more than £3 million ($4 million) after the airline pleaded guilty to breaking health and safety laws following a prosecution by regulators at Southwark Crown Court in Central London.
Two ground workers sustained serious head injuries, including one who suffered bleeding on the brain, after falls from height while unloading luggage from British Airways planes at its flagship Terminal 5 hub at London Heathrow Airport.
During the trial, it was revealed that inspectors from the Heath & Safety Executive (HSE) had previously warned British Airways about the risk posed to workers while working on special cargo unloading machines known as televators.
‘Fortunate to Be Alive’: How the Accidents Happened
British Airways had started a program to fit extendable guardrails to its televators in 2022, but on August 25, 2022, a ground worker slipped off a televator that still hadn’t had guardrails installed.
The 54-year-old victim fell 1.5 meters to the tarmac below, sustaining serious head and back injuries, including broken vertebrae.
In the second incident, a 43-year-old ground worker fell three meters from the side of a machine used to unload baggage containers from an aircraft.
The victim had to be rushed to the hospital after sustaining a fractured jaw and bleeding on the brain from the fall.
BA Had Been Warned About Safety Risks, Court Hears
“The risks of working at height and the necessary control measures are well established – in these cases adequate guardrails would have significantly reduced the risk of harm,” explained HSE enforcement lawyer Rebecca Schwart.
“This was a reasonably foreseeable risk that British Airways should have been aware of and therefore it should have done more to protect its employees.”
Schwart said that both workers were “fortunate to be alive” after the case was concluded.
British Airways was fined £1.33 million for the 2022 accident and a further £1.875 million for the 2023 incident after pleading guilty to two charges under Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The court also ordered the airline to pay £20,935 in costs.
British Airways responds
In a statement, a spokesperson for British Airways said: “Safety is always our highest priority, and we deeply regret that despite the measures we had in place, these incidents occurred.”
The statement added: “Having worked closely with the Health & Safety Executive, we had made changes to our procedures.”
The Unite union, which represents British Airways ground workers at Heathrow, welcomed the fine imposed on the airline, saying that one of the injured workers still suffers from long-term health problems, including chronic pain and headaches.
“British Airways must ensure that lessons have been learned from these devastating incidents,” slammed the union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham.
“Nobody should be seriously injured while at work and Unite welcomes the decision to convict British Airways for its failure to protect staff.
