Editorial: Critical link in airline security

Monday, Oct. 3, 2005 | 8:56 a.m.

When reports surfaced that airport security screeners have a higher rate of injuries and take more sick time off than even people working on construction sites or in mines, Transportation Security Administration officials decided it was time to take a closer look. The TSA is spending $17 million during the next five years for two workers' compensation consulting companies to review medical records of injured TSA employees and find ways to put these workers back on the job.

USA Today reported that the injury rate for TSA screeners last year was four times higher than for those in the construction and mining trades, with the screeners missing nearly 250,000 work days. They missed job training sessions -- including instructions on how to detect firearms and explosives. Their absences also left staffing gaps that in some cases forced airports to violate a law requiring baggage to be screened with bomb-detection machines.

Security directors at nearly half of the 263 airports surveyed by the Government Accountability Office said the number of injuries sustained by security screeners was "a significant concern." And it should be. We're not talking about rank-and-file federal office workers, but people who are the last -- and sometimes only -- barrier between a terrorist's bomb tucked in a suitcase and the fate of a planeload of passengers.

Most of the injuries reportedly are of the sprain-and-strain variety associated with lifting baggage into screening machines. TSA officials say such injuries could be reduced by installing conveyor belts that move bags from check-in counters through the bomb-scanners without having to be lifted. These could cost up to $250 million for a single airport, but also would cut down on the number of screening personnel needed.

Still, even the TSA isn't convinced all those strained screeners are being treated in adequate periods of time. They are asking the two contractors they hired to see whether injured workers are waiting too long to obtain tests and treatments and whether some prescribed recovery periods are longer than necessary.

Since November a test of such an injury oversight review at 39 airports has cut the average absence for screeners at those airports from 45 days to 11. This may seem like a harsh way to examine workers whose jobs carry a tough physical burden. But the burden of safety for the nation's travelers is greater.