Airport Ground Handling Gets “New Basic Regulation”

Working groups put things together
The concept papers, or better said, findings, were presented in March to the attendants of the EASA Ground Handling Conference which was held in Cologne, Germany.
The findings and action points were the result of a three-month study by EASA along with members of the ground handling community, authorities and other associations, to come up with what they term as a detailed concept paper on key ground handling safety issues.

Common European standards needed
At the Cologne conference the findings were presented to attendees by members of each expert group and was followed by a lengthy Q&A session.
There was it seems common consensus that EASA members should strive to develop what they term as ‘pan-European standards’ for the Ground Handling industry, including cargo handling factors as a whole.
The main topics listed were:

• Operational standards
• Training
• Ground support equipment (GSE) safety issues
• Staff turnover
• Management systems
• General oversight for future actions

The Airport Services Association (ASA) which represents many of the world’s ground handling entities, was also part of the Expert Group and intends to keep its members au-fait with further developments in this important safety aspect filed during the coming months.
There is still much to be done if the industry is to come up with a common pan-European standard for ground handling safety issues.
We'll certainly keep an eye on future developments in this area.

John Mc Donagh