An ergonomic assessment of the airline baggage handler

37question about loading the wide body aircraft should be reworded or omitted since manyairlines do not presently expect the baggage handler to manual load wide bodies orpush-pull cans into these aircraft.Lastly, there was a strong focus in the survey that questioned whether or not aback belt should be used by the baggage handler, followed by more questions about theperceived notions of benefit from the use of back supports. The scientific and academicsupport for the use of the back belt is inconclusive. In addition to this, the NationalInstitute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) do not support the use of back beltsfor the lack of scientific support that exist. This being the case, it was the opinion of theauthor that this question should not be posed to baggage handlers because it may lead tothe assumptions that the use of the back belt could be a viable option in eliminating orreducing the incidents of back injury.3.4 Review of Study on Conveyor Belt DesignThe use of a conveyor belt is quite routine for baggage handlers at work. The design andlayout of the belt can affect the posture, and work rhythm of baggage handlers. In theliterature review there were two main articles that focused on design of conveyors: (1)Baggage Handling Postures and the Design of Conveyors (Thomas et al., 1995) and, (2)Ergonomic Improvements to a Baggage Conveyor System at a Large Airline Company(Vi et al., 1998). The first article highlights a study that took place at the SchipholAirport in Holland of a baggage conveyor belt system. The conveyor belt was used bybaggage handlers to sort and transfer bags from one point to another. While baggage ison the conveyor, baggage handlers often have to pick bags up and transfer them to mobilebaggage carts. It is during this transfer that baggage handlers are forced to frequently