What Airport Baggage and Cargo Handlers Need to Know about COVID-19

For baggage or cargo handlers, while the general risk remains low, potential sources of exposure could include surfaces touched or handled by a person with COVID-19.

• Limit close contact with others by maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet, when possible.
• Practice routine cleaning and disinfection of frequently touched surfaces. These include baggage or cargo transport devices, vehicles, scanners, and shared/common two-way radios or other mobile devices. Follow the directions on the cleaning product’s label.
• Follow your employer’s normal guidance for handling animals in transit and biological cargo.
• Proper hand hygiene is an important infection control measure. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol.
• Key times to clean hands include:
  • Before, during, and after preparing food
  • Before eating food
  • After using the toilet
  • After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• Additional workplace-specific times to clean hands include:
  • Before and after work shifts
  • Before and after work breaks
  • After handling, loading, and unloading baggage, packages, or cargo
  • After touching frequently touched surfaces
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.

Your employer should develop a COVID-19 health and safety plan to protect employees. This plan should be shared with you and your coworkers. Your employer should:

• Take steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 if an employee is sick. Actively encourage sick employees to stay home. Sick employees should not return to work until the criteria to discontinue home isolation are met, in consultation with healthcare providers and state and local health departments.
• Provide information on who to contact if employees become sick.
• Implement flexible sick leave and supportive policies and practices. Consider drafting non-punitive “emergency sick leave” policies if sick leave is not offered to some or all employees.
• Designate someone to be responsible for responding to COVID-19 concerns. Employees should know who this person is and how to contact them.
• Provide employees with accurate information about COVID-19, how it spreads, and risk of exposure.
• Provide training on proper hand washing practices and other routine infection control precautions. This will help prevent the spread of many diseases, including COVID-19.
• Provide employees with access to soap, clean running water, and drying materials, or alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing at least 60% alcohol at their worksite.
• Provide disposable disinfectant wipes so that commonly touched surfaces including baggage or cargo transport devices, vehicles, scanners, and communication systems such as two-way radios or other mobile devices can be wiped down by employees before and after each use. For disinfection, use products that meet EPA’s criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2external icon, diluted household bleach solutions, or alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and are appropriate for the surface. Follow manufacturer’s directions for use.
• Provide tissues and no-touch disposal receptacles for use by employees.
• Conduct frequent cleaning of employee break rooms, rest areas, and other common areas.
• Place posters that encourage staying home when sick, cough and sneeze etiquette, and good hand hygiene at the entrance to the workplace and in other workplace areas where they are likely to be seen.
• Follow all applicable federal regulations and public health agency guidelines.