ABSTRACT
The airport check-in worker study investigated a largely female-dominated occupation, unstudied, and the findings revealed that many hidden job hazards affect workers’ health and well-being in what appears on the surface to be a “safe” job. This chapter argues that check-in workers in airports that have semi-mechanized systems for baggage check-in would experience significantly more negative health outcomes, particularly more musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), than check-in workers at airports with fully mechanized systems. MSDs are prevalent and severe among check-in workers and may lead to temporary or permanent disability. The increase in MSDs with years performing the job of check-in worker is not to suggest that the number of years employed at airport check-in work should be limited as a preventive measure. The lack of a category for MSDs in Swiss and Canadian workers’ compensation data meant that even if one were able to obtain the compensation data from the central insurance fund or board, one could not identify work-related MSDs.
