FEATURE | GSE TRAINING
COMPETENCE IN GSE
The trainees are “buddied up” with supervisors until they are deemed capable of operating alone. At first, they only drive the simplest piece of equipment; a baggage tug. “We have a 160-hour rule for driving on airside. All they can drive for that period is a baggage tug and only on roadways. They are not allowed on aprons, or near aeroplanes,” said Newman. “They need this orientation period so they better understand road layouts and the difference between driving airside and on public high- ways. Awareness is critical near aeroplanes.” After the four-week period, employees get to drive the baggage tug around the aeroplane. “But it depends on attitude, awareness and demeanour. There is no defined time line,” said Newman.
Usually a year or two elapses before they move on
to more complicated equipment, such as pushback tractors, or de-icers. “Heavy equipment requires further specialist training,” said Newman. “Just because you can drive a baggage tug doesn’t make you able to pull or push aircraft around. Only guys who have demonstrated the requisite level of experience, skill and situational awareness are entrusted with aircraft movement equipment. There’s a lot of responsibility. A pushback tractor can cost US$500,000 and an aircraft could cost US$125 million and have 400 people on board. Our criteria for push- ing and pulling aircraft is very high.” Some employees, however, do move through the ranks quickly. “We employ a
lot of heavy goods drivers and they are used to driving big trucks so they tend to adapt easily,” said Newman.
Newman believes the industry’s training methods are changing fast. Simulator machines have been around for a while, but until recently they were not always cost-effective methods of training. But that is changing. “The manufacturers have a better understanding of GSE operations now and are developing simulators to provide more than one mode of training. Some can model about 50 different equipment types. Previously you had to buy loads of dif- ferent simulators which wasn’t cost-effective,” he said. Newman has a mandate for a successful simulator. First, they must model dif- ferent machines, and second, they have to model different driving scenarios, such as mist, fog, and snow. Finally, they must be mobile. “We have to be able to pack it into a van and move it to different airports. We need to move the simulator to the people rather than the people to the simulator, which is what used to happen. We have one on trial at the moment and we’ll decide next year if it’s a good train- ing method and cost-effective. But I do believe that’s where the industry is going.” Another massive provider of ground services, Swissport International, has somewhat different methods of training. Swissport operates on an even bigger scale to Menzies. It provides ground services for around 100 million passengers and 3.2 million tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of 650 clients in 36 countries. Swissport trains its 35,000-strong workforce using a blended learning ap- proach. Unlike both Menzies and TAS, Swissport uses on-line modules, including films, and drag and drop options. On-line testing reinforces the lessons. On com- pletion of the programme, trainees need an 80 per cent score (ISO Standard) on tests to graduate. Then, for several months they work alongside a mentor before they can operate alone.
Loredana Quercia, head of training & development at Swissport, said: “Train- ing has changed over the years. Everything now needs to be done faster with higher quality standards. We find on-line training an effective method because it can be done at the trainee’s own speed and elements can be repeated if necessary.” Companies like TAS, Menzies and Swissport put a high value on training. But
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Evans at TAS worries that some businesses will be tempted to cut training budgets because of the prolonged economic downturn. “Lots of our competitors have eliminated benefits for employees. They are no longer providing medical care, or dental care and other benefits. And once they get rid of those things, training is another easy one to cut back on. They might save money in the short-term, but we are keeping our training programme going as, in the long-term, there will be fewer accidents and reduced insurance costs,” he said.
DOLL Fahrzeugbau AG D-77728 Oppenau Tel. +49 (7804) 49-0
www.doll-oppenau.com
Bob Newman Senior Vice-President, network safety and risk management, Menzies
“Some companies do more theory and less practical work. But we put greater emphasis on job training with a mentor”
26 AIRSIDE INTERNATIONAL | MARCH 2012
WWW.EVAINT.COM
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