Baggage handlers at Berlin’s new airport have reported receiving electric shocks from scanners, in yet another problem to befall the troubled project, which is widely seen as an engineering catastrophe.
About 60 incidents of electric shocks have been reported since the airport opened its doors on 31 October last year nine years behind schedule and more than €4bn (£3.6bn) over budget, according to the trade union Verdi. Affected workers have complained of significant pain, dizziness and numbness, and ambulances have been called on four occasions this month.
Verdi has called for operations to be halted at the check-in points in terminal 1, where the incidents have taken place.
“On several occasions the injured had to be transferred via ambulance to nearby hospitals,” Verdi said in a statement. The union said that every luggage inspection scanner in the terminal was producing the shocks and in some cases, passengers had also been affected.
The Berlin-Brandenburg airport project has been beset by problems stretching back years before it belatedly opened in the autumn, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which has dramatically reduced demand for airports. Since then it has received millions of euros in subsidies.
Verdi said the low level of traffic at the airport meant that it would be possible to move operations into the old airport, Schönefeld, which is now terminal 5.
The federal police and the airport management, while acknowledging the occurrence of the electric shocks, have said they see no reason for closing the terminal.
“Since the multiple incidents of electrostatic discharge the airport management has been in close contact with the police, who have taken various measures which have already led to a significant reduction in the number of incidents, and there is therefore no need to suspend the safety controls at terminal 1,” said an airport spokesman.
A spokesperson for the police said it had examined the machines and had “been able to rule out technical faults in the machines”.
An electrostatic expert brought in by the airport has said he believed the injuries were shock-related and not long-lasting. He advised employees to wear footwear capable of conducting electric charges away from those operating the scanners. The airport has been urged to ensure its cleaners mop the floors more frequently, and anti-static key rings have also been distributed.
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