British Airways fined £3.2m after luggage handlers hurt in similar accidents

British Airways has been fined more than £3.2 million after a luggage handler suffered a bleed on the brain and another broke his back when they fell from height while working at Heathrow Airport.

Two employees were injured in “near identical” incidents just months apart while using loading equipment that did not have sufficient protection including edge guard rails, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

Ravinder Teji, a ground operation agent who had been with the company for seven years, suffered back injuries and cut his head after falling 1.5 metres to the ground from a televator on August 25 2022.

And Shahjahan Malik was “seriously injured” with a bleed on the brain after plunging three metres as he used TLD elevator on March 8 2023.

Televators and TLD elevators are machines that are used to load baggage containers into aircraft holds. Operators can be between 1.5 and 3.0 metres above ground level while they are in use.

British Airways PLC previously pleaded guilty to two breaches of Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 in the criminal prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

BA was accused of failing to ensure suitable and sufficient measures were taken to protect employees.

This included those working at height who face a risk of falling a distance and being injured while using ground service equipment such as televators, for the loading and offloading of baggage from aircraft.

Judge Brendan Finucane KC said: “I am satisfied that in both incidents the culpability was high” as he fined BA £3,208,333 and also ordered it to pay £20,935 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

Mr Teji was dealing with luggage from a short haul flight when he fell and was injured and he “can remember his head hitting the ground first and curling up into a recovery position”, Andrew McGee, for the HSE, told the court.

Mr Malik was offloading a flight from Seattle when he fell. It was snowy conditions and poor weather could potentially make using the equipment in tight spaces more difficult and liable to slips, trips and falls, the court heard.

Inspectors visited in March 2022 and raised concerns which were being dealt with to try to remedy the problem but they could have been dealt with more swiftly, the court heard.

The inspector noticed there was a substantial gap between the platform of the televator and the fuselage of whatever aircraft they were dealing with. She also spotted that the televator ramp left a gap through which someone could fall with no hand rails or items to close it.

The inspector’s concerns were a “clear warning” which could have been a “red light” about the risk of the gap and safety of the equipment, according to the judge.

The judge said Mr Malik “suffered more serious injuries”, stating: “He had what appears to have been a bleed on the brain which was obviously so serious that he was taken to a central London hospital because the local hospital could not dealt with it.

“He also had fracture to his forehead, nasal bone, a fractured jaw and scratches and bruising as a result.

“His jaw had to be sewed shut. He was on a fluid diet for months.

“He was on medication for a considerable period of time.

“He still suffers from ongoing pain and headaches from what happened to him.”

Neither injured man attended Thursday’s sentencing but the judge said: “I am aware of the injuries suffered both physically and psychologically, of the affect it has had on their working lives”.

The equipment used was standard in the industry, not just at London Heathrow but worldwide.

New televators with guard rails are among the wave of improvements BA has made since the incidents, the court heard.

Earlier, Mr McGee had told the hearing: “This case is about platforms being used to load and unload luggage on various sorts of aircraft and those pieces of equipment we say were not properly guarded in terms of edge protection and guards so that they prevented a risk of falls from height.”

He added: “I think it is fair to say that the defendant company accepts it failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent a fall from height.”

James Leonard KC, for BA, told the court that both men have returned to work in different roles and the company has “done everything they can to facilitate that and to make sure that relevant adjustments have been made”.

He said: “We are not trying to derogate from the deep regret that anybody is injured. It should not happen and we should accept that accidents should be avoidable.”

He added: “Accidents like this at Heathrow in general are the subject of discussion of stakeholders so at least you will know there is learning in that regard.”

After the hearing, HSE enforcement lawyer Rebecca Schwartz said: “Falls from height present a real risk of death or serious, life-changing injury. Both employees are fortunate to be alive today.

“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.

“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.”

A BA spokesman said: “Safety is always our highest priority, and we deeply regret that despite the measures we had in place, these incidents occurred.

“Having worked closely with the Health & Safety Executive, we had made changes to our procedures.”