British Airways fined £3m after Heathrow baggage handlers injured

British Airways has been fined more than £3 million after two baggage handlers fell and suffered serious injuries within a seven-month period while working at Heathrow airport.
Ravinder Teji and Shahjahan Malik were seriously hurt, in August 2022 and March 2023 respectively, when they both fell from a machine known as a televator.
Mr Teji fell from a height of 1.5 metres when loading a short-haul flight at Heathrow airport, while Mr Malik fell three metres while unloading a flight from Seattle, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Mr Malik suffered what appeared to be a bleed on the brain. He also had fractures of his forehead, his nasal bone, a fractured jaw which had to be screwed shut and bruising.
The court heard that Mr Teji had lined up the televator with an Airbus A320 but after part of the cargo was unloaded, the platform became stuck.
He fell from the televator and hit the ground, suffering a cut to his head, and was left with a fracture to one vertebrae and compressed fractures to two others.
Short guard rails
Andrew McGee, prosecuting, said: 'There were guard rails on either side of the televator platform, but they did not extend far enough. Those measures were not enough to prevent falling.'
On both occasions the weather was poor, and it was snowing on March 8 2023, when Mr Malik fell.
The court heard there had also been three previous incidents of employees slipping before Mr Teji's fall.
British Airways has since overhauled its televator systems, costing of £7 million. The airline was ordered to pay a £3,208,333 fine within 28 days along with legal costs of £20,935 and a victim surcharge of £120.
Not addressed 'sufficiently'
Judge Brendan Finucane KC said: 'Poor weather made the risk of falling much greater, and there was no doubt there was clearly a factor in poor weather.
'The risk assessment did not deal with this factor in the risk to the operator.'
Judge Finucane added: 'The systems of work training were insufficient to prevent this. Of course when the second incident occurred only five or six months later, the reality is that there was an issue that needed to be dealt with swiftly.
'The court takes the view that it was not addressed sufficiently, swiftly as they should have been.'

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