Aging Ramp Workers

There was a time when you didn’t see too many older workers out on the ramp.  It’s a tough job out there, day in and day out and it takes its toll on workers.  In many ways, baggage handlers get the brunt of the physical assaults on the human body. Lifting, carrying and tossing bags is hard physical labor.  And, with age and overuse injuries, the body starts to wear down.  Back problems and knee problems are rife in that line of work. And workers often don’t take the necessary protections to protect themselves — until the problems begin.  When back pain becomes a daily occurrence or knee pain makes it difficult to walk — and frequently both, that’s when workers suddenly realize that they have to bend properly to lift heavy weights or wear a weightlifting belt.  By then, it’s often too late to do anything more than keep the problems from getting worse. But it used to be that as these problems started to interfere with a worker’s health or job performance, he or she could look for less strenuous work in other areas of the company or the airport — but no more.  With the downturn in the economy, job mobility is very tough.  And no one is leaving a paying job for the great unknown. The situation is going to continue to get worse as workers age and as the Social Security retirement age continues to go up.  Employee injuries and worker’s comp claims are likely to increase as workers get older and they continue to do physically demanding work.  While we can’t solve many of these economic problems, we can institute programs to ensure that workers take proper precautions to limit injuries.  It’s the right thing to do for workers and can save companies money in the long run.