On August 15, 2023, Benjamin Katz of The Wall Street Journal released the article, “More Workers Are Getting Hurt on the Tarmac. ‘It Was Really Frightening.’” In the article, Katz examined Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) data and interviewed multiple airport employees and companies. According to Katz’s findings, there has been a significant increase in work-related injuries for airport workers since the Covid-19 pandemic as a result of worker fatigue, inexperience, lack of government oversight, and lack of training. There has also been a significant turnover in the past five years among airport workers, which potentially expounds these risk factors. 3
Aside from the Wall Street Journal, other news outlets like The Washington Post, USA Today and The New York Times have called attention to the safety surrounding airport workers and pilots in recent years. 1,4,2 While the media has been reporting this phenomenon, to our knowledge, no other state agency has investigated their own state data to see if they are also experiencing this rise in injuries.
To investigate if Idaho is also experiencing an uptick in airport-related injuries currently being reported across the United States, the Idaho Department of Labor collected accident and incident report data from the National Transportation Safety Board, workers compensation data from the Idaho Industrial Commission, and citation data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. All data sources were analyzed separately to prevent false inflation of the numbers and double counting.
National Transportation Safety Board data
The National Transportation Safety Board data showed there was a significant increase in accidents each year until a peak in 2022, followed by a slight decrease the next year. From 2018 to 2023, there were 61 accidents and 100 injuries related to planes. Specifically, there were 39 fatal injuries, 22 serious injuries and 39 minor injuries. The year with the most accidents was 2022, which had a total of 12 accidents and 20 people injured. Of the 20 people injured, 11 were fatally injured and the remaining nine experienced minor injuries.
However, 2020 was the year with the most injuries. It had a total of 21 injuries but only 10 accidents. There were 11 fatal injuries, two serious and eight minor. The high number of injuries in this year was mainly due to one accident in which eight people died as a result of two planes crashing into each other. Both 2020 and 2022 had 11 fatal injuries, which is the most fatal injuries for a year recorded between the 2018 to 2023 timeframe.
Figure 1: National Transportation Safety Board accidents by year
Source: The National Transportation Safety Board’s data in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Additionally, the cities with the most accidents were Stanley, Coeur d’Alene and Yellow Pine, all of which had three accidents each between 2018 to 2023. The cities with the second most accidents were Emmett, Cascade, Warren, Caldwell, Hayden, American Falls, Howe and Lewiston. These cities all had two accidents each. There were an additional 36 cities that each had one accident, which included Nampa, McCall, Mountain Home and Idaho City. Boise was not listed as having any accidents during this time frame.5
Workers’ compensation data
Data from the Idaho Industrial Commission also shows that Idaho is experiencing a rise in airport-related incidents, with a slight decrease in 2023. There were 153 accidents in total between 2018 and 2023. Most of the accidents were either indemnity, where the worker missed work because of their injury and received payment for the days they missed (33 workers), or medical (118 workers); however, two of the incidents in 2022 were fatalities. In addition to these fatalities, 2022 also had 42 accidents — the most accidents out of the six-year time frame. After the peak in 2022, there was a significant decrease in accidents in 2023 (33 injuries). More data is needed before a conclusion can be made on the direction of the trend line after 2023. The graph below also shows an increase in incidents in Idaho from 2018 to 2019, which cannot be contributed to the pandemic and may suggest another factor at play.
Figure 2: Workers’ compensation data by year
Source: Idaho Industrial Commission.
Additionally, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) job classification with the most accidents was occupation 7403 (aircraft or helicopter air carrier – scheduled or supplemental – all other than flying crew). This group experienced 125 accidents in the total time period, or 81% of all injuries. The year with the most incidents, 2022, saw 36 incidents for occupation 7403, which accounts for 86% of total accidents. Interestingly, neither of the two fatalities in 2022 were related to occupation 7403, suggesting that despite it being more prone to injuries, it is not more prone to fatal accidents.
The second largest NCCI group to receive injuries was occupation 8810 (air traffic controllers), with seven accidents between 2018-2023. The group with the least number of incidents was occupation 7421 (aircraft or helicopter: transportation of personnel in conduct of employer’s business – flying crew), with only two injuries reported in the six-year time frame.
The most common injury was a strain or tear, accounting for 49 injuries or 32% of the total. The second and third most common injuries were contusions and lacerations, respectively. The least common injuries were burns, myocardial infarctions and dermatitis, with only one recorded injury each.3
Table 1: Injury nature
Source: Idaho Industrial Commission.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration data
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citation data was obtained for this report but due to the limitation of the data collected, it was not able to fully answer if Idaho is also experiencing an increase in airport related accidents. However, the Idaho Department of Labor discovered that in 2021, an airport in Idaho received a citation from OSHA not related to an injury. In 2022, OSHA gave out two citations to Idaho airports; yet it is not known the nature of these citations. Lastly, there was one citation in 2023 for an Idaho airport that was not related to an injury.6 While this is not enough data to make any meaningful conclusions, it does potentially support the previous data that shows Idaho had the largest number of injuries for airport workers in 2022.
Conclusion
Overall, the data suggests that Idaho is also experiencing a rise in accidents related to airports. Both the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) and the Idaho Industrial Commission’s workers’ compensation data showed that 2022 had the most accidents in Idaho, with OSHA’s data also potentially supporting this finding. The data also suggests that there might be a downward trend coming in the next few years, but more data is needed before that conclusion can be made.
An interesting finding is that the rise of airport related accidents started in 2019, which was before the pandemic. The workers’ compensation data had a significant increase between 2018 and 2019 and the NTSB data had a slight increase between that same time frame. This suggests that while the pandemic could have had some effect on injuries, it cannot account for the increase completely. It could be that the high turnover rate and lack of training for airport workers started before the pandemic and was simply exacerbated by it. However, more research would need to be done to identify an exact cause.
Additionally, the NTSB data showed there is no singular city in Idaho that is experiencing the majority of these plane crashes but rather they are spread out across the state. While this does make it harder to pin down ways to reduce instances, it does imply that after an accident happens the airport is taking steps to reduce the chance of it happening again. However, it could also be related to the amount of air traffic a city experiences.
For more information on air travel in Idaho, please see the Idaho Intrastate Passenger Air Service Study from the Intrastate Commercial Air Service Committee or visit the Federal Aviation Administration’s website. To view more of Idaho’s current findings, read the Idaho Department of Labor’s Analysis of on-the-job injuries for airport workers and pilots in Idaho.
– Therese Schumacher, research analyst senior
Sources
1 Compton, N. (2022, Aug. 29). Airline labor problems aren’t going away: Major carriers are staffing up, but strains on workers could disrupt your travel plans beyond the summer. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/08/29/airline-labor-problems/
2 Ember, S. & Steel, E. (2023, Aug. 21). Airline Close Calls Happen Far More Often Than Previously Known. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/21/business/airline-safety-close-calls.html
3 Idaho Industrial Commission, Workers’ Compensation, requested via email
4 Katz, B. (2023, Aug. 15). More Workers Are Getting Hurt on the Tarmac. ‘It Was Really Frightening.’ As travel rebounds, understaffed ground crews are getting injured. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/airport-ground-workers-safety-airlines-c98e3216?mod=hp_lead_pos7
5 National Transportation Safety Board
6 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, requested via email
7 Wichter, Z. (2023, Aug. 22). Low staffing, more close calls: FAA responds to increased scrutiny on aviation safety. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airlinenews/2023/08/22/aviation-close-calls-faa-response/70652601007/
Photo courtesy of © heychli – stock.adobe.com
This publication is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor for SFY24 as part of the Workforce Information Grant (48%) and matched/dedicated funds (52%) totaling $704,259. The Idaho Department of Labor is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Reasonable accommodations are available upon request. Dial 711 for Idaho Relay Service.