June 24, 2026

Territory, Risk and Public Policies

Graham Braithwaite e José Manuel Mendes

Airport Ground Handling is a time-sensitive and safety-critical activity involving multiple stakeholders operating within a complex organisational environment. These operations require continuous coordination between operational performance objectives and compliance with safety procedures. Although Airport Ground Handling remains less examined than other areas of aviation safety, this thesis analyses it as a socio-technical safety domain. It specifically examines workers' perceptions of the relationship between production pressure, safety compliance, human factors, and organisational safety communication. The thesis adopted a two-stage methodological design. The first stage consisted of a quantitative cross-sectional survey of Airport Ground Handling personnel from five international airports. Descriptive statistics and bivariate inferential methods were used to examine differences in workers' perceptions according to sociodemographic variables, including gender, age and education level, and labour-related variables, including professional category, employment contract and work schedule. Composite indicators were also developed to assess the prioritisation of safety over production and the perceived quality of internal safety communication. In the second stage, the empirical findings were interpreted through theoretical perspectives on safety culture, human factors, safety management systems and risk governance. The findings indicate that safety-related perceptions are not distributed uniformly across the Airport Ground Handling workforce. Male respondents showed greater acceptance of production priorities over strict procedural compliance than female respondents. The professional category also revealed relevant differences in tolerance of procedural relaxation, perceived knowledge sufficiency and awareness of operational vulnerabilities, while education level had a more limited explanatory effect. The findings further show that safety communication is a central component of safety culture, particularly workers' willingness to report concerns and the perceived responsiveness of supervisors and managers. This thesis provides empirical evidence on the role of production pressure, human factors and safety communication in Airport Ground Handling operations. It also identifies workforce-specific vulnerabilities that may inform targeted safety interventions, competence assurance, supervisory practices and communication improvements. From the perspective of technical standards and guidance material, the thesis supports stronger integration of production pressure, just culture, closed-loop communication and role-specific competence into safety management systems, as well as future ICAO and EASA guidance, regulatory material and safety promotion developments for Airport Ground Handling.

Keywords: Airport ground handling; Human factors; Safety communication; Safety culture; safety management system.