Airport baggage handlers cleared of safety claims

A secret operation has cleared the ­nation’s largest baggage handling company of claims it had compromised air safety.

CASA has cleared the ­nation’s largest baggage handling company of union claims that it had compromised air safety.

An undercover operation by aviation authorities into the contracted airport operations of four major airlines has cleared the ­nation’s largest baggage handling company of union claims that it had compromised air safety.

A separate investigation by SafeWork NSW has also dismissed the Transport Workers Union’s claims that the company, Aerocare, was exploiting workers and subjecting them to Third World conditions.

Investigations were launched following a report on the ABC’s 7.30 earlier this year that aired claims by the TWU against the company, including doctoring safety records, compromising passenger safety and making workers sleep in container terminals.

An inquiry by the Australian Communications and Media Authority has also found the ABC failed to comply with its own standards on several occasions in the reporting of the claims, which were made during enterprise agreement negotiation between the union and the company that has a predominantly non-union workforce.

The ABC escaped being found in “breach” of standards for accuracy because it had issued clarifications.

The Australian has learned that the Civil Aviation Safety Auth­ority launched a two-month surveillance of the airlines serviced by Aerocare, in response to the 7.30 allegations. As CASA does not regulate baggage handlers, it conducted surveillance of the ground operations of Virgin, QantasLink, Tigerair and Jetstar.

“Allegations were made about rostering practices and issues concerning the safety of employees, passengers and aircraft,’’ the surveillance report said.

“This series of surveillance ­activities were conducted at Brisbane domestic, Brisbane international, Cairns, Canberra, Mel­bourne, Newcastle, Perth, and Sydney airports, and at Aerocare’s support office. These activities were undertaken between June and August 2017.

“Based on the activities ­observed and the records sampled relating to operations during the surveillance period, the original complaints and accusations on ­fatigue management, safety ­reporting, use of untrained personnel, and document altering were unable to be substantiated in any systematic manner.”

An Aerocare spokesman said the report was a vindication of the company’s operations and safety record.

“CASA’s findings support the enormous and consistent efforts Aerocare has made to make it one of the safest aviation service providers in Australasia, noting that its injury rate is a staggeringly one-tenth of the industry average,” the spokesman said. “Aerocare is the only Australian-owned baggage handler certified to the highest global standard of operations, safety and security.’’

SafeWork NSW told the company that its investigation into the claims of poor worker conditions did not find any breaches.

TWU national president Tony Sheldon said the union had evidence of 132 injuries in the space of less than two years reported among a staff of just 326 at Sydney international airport.

“No authority or agency have been in touch with the TWU to furnish us with a copy of a report on Aerocare, offered to give whistleblowers protection to ­employees raising concerns at Aerocare or sought information from us,’’ Mr Sheldon said.

An ABC News spokeswoman said ACMA “investigated the complaints of Aerocare Pty Ltd and found no breaches of the code of practice”.

“The ABC’s independent complaints handling body, Audience and Consumer Affairs, and the ACMA found that the first of the 7.30 stories on Aerocare had two inaccuracies — which the ACMA found had been adequately ­addressed by corrections to the story,’’ the spokeswoman said.