Airport Screeners Have Highest Injury Rate

U.S. airport screeners continue to have the highest injury rate among the nation's workers two years after the trend was discovered.

U.S. Transportation Security Administration figures show the number of screeners injured on the job fell in 2005 to 29 percent from 36 percent the previous year, but the rate remains higher than any of about 600 job categories tracked by the Labor Department, reports USA Today.

The rate far exceeds the 4.5-percent injury rate for the rest of the federal workforce, the report said. The figures include all job injuries, even if an employee didn't miss work. In general, about one-third of workplace injuries result in lost job time.

"It is a physically demanding job," said TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter because screeners repeatedly lift and move heavy bags.

The 48,000 full- and part-time screeners missed nearly 250,000 days because of injuries in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Labor Department figures showed.

To cut down on the injuries, TSA has moved luggage-scanning machines in airports so screeners don't have to carry suitcases far.

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