Airport ground handler Swissport Australia has disputed claims made by the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) regarding its safety standards, describing the union’s characterisation of its record as inaccurate.
The TWU has protested against Swissport’s safety practices in recent months, alleging widespread breaches including damaged ground equipment, unsafe staffing levels and refusal of entry for safety inspections at Perth Airport. The union raised the claims as part of an industrial campaign ahead of Swissport’s next Enterprise Agreement negotiations, which were due to take place over the coming 12 months.
A Swissport Australia spokesperson said the company encouraged all workers to lodge safety reports, however minor, as part of what it described as a safety-first culture. The spokesperson said this approach captured thousands of observations each month, covering competitor operations, airline procedures and Swissport’s own activities.
The spokesperson said this had contributed to what the company described as one of the strongest safety records of any aviation ground handler in Australia, along with high compliance ratings for ramp and baggage operations.
The company said that since it took over Qantas’ ground handling operations, it had recorded a 56 per cent reduction in recordable injuries, a 43 per cent reduction in lost time injuries, and a 75 per cent improvement in aircraft damage prevention.
Swissport said it held Platinum certification from EcoVadis, a rating it said fewer than five per cent of companies globally achieved, along with ISO 45001:2018 certification for workplace health and safety management and ISAGO certification against more than 270 aviation industry safety standards.
The company said its operations underwent more than 60 independent audits annually, alongside oversight from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and state-based work health and safety regulators.
The spokesperson said the TWU’s claims were part of an industrial campaign and were not an accurate representation of the company’s safety record, adding that fewer than 10 per cent of Swissport employees were TWU members.
The TWU has previously said its claims were based on worker safety surveys and internal documents, and has called for regulators including CASA and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to investigate safety standards across Qantas’ outsourced ground handling supply chain.
Swissport said it has one of the best safety records of any specialist aviation ground handling company in Australia, owing to rigorous global benchmarks that include a:
- 56% reduction in recordable injuries over 5 years since many airlines transferred their ground handling operations to Swissport.
- 43% reduction in lost time injuries compared to airlines’ insourced operations.
- 75% improvement in aircraft damage to QANTAS aircraft – from 0.8 events to under 0.2 per 1000 flights – a four-fold safety improvement from when QANTAS insourced these services.
