January 26, 2009
One of the deeply disturbing factors of travelling abroad - be it for business or pleasure - is that dreaded moment at the airport check in.
No, not when the woman with the pinned on smile asks you whether you packed your bag yourself (no, love, I got the head of an Al-Qaeda terror cell to do it for me). It's the point when you put your luggage on the conveyor belt and it disappears off through the back into the mysterious world populated by baggage handlers.
Guru stands there thinking: Will I ever see that bag again? If so, will it still be zipped up with its contents secure? Please be careful guys, it's got Guru's precious things in there.
Baggage handlers suffer from a bad rep. Most people, Guru included, think they are a bunch of neanderthals who spend most of the day sitting around slurping tea, reading The Daily Star, and only when prodded to rise and chuck your bags onto a plane being careful to cause maximum damage.
But no, they are human after all, they have feelings and, apparently, suffer from bad backs as well.
New research shows how big a problem musculoskeletal disorders are for baggage handlers: they reported problems with their lower back, knees and shoulders. Health and safety professionals are meeting next week to discuss the findings and look at ways to help these most valuable of workers.
Guru is bemused as to what this might be. Surely a key part of a baggage handler's job is to do exactly that: handle baggage. If they can't pick it up, shift it, put it on and take it off planes, then what will they be doing? Just slightly less then they do now probably...
Soon passengers will just have to rely on taking hand luggage on board the plane (no nail scissors or hand cream though). Or, be expected to actually load their own bags onto the plane before scrambling for their seats.
Guru is surprised the no-frills airlines haven't tried to introduce that yet in an effort to cut even more costs. At least then you know everything is still inside when you take-off.
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