None of what follows is operational guidance and none of it overrides your operator's procedures or the aerodrome's rules. It is the generic hazard list, written down so it can be thought about at a hotel desk rather than for the first time on a wet ramp.
Ground Support Equipment
Tugs, loaders, belt loaders, dollies, fuel bowsers, catering trucks, ground power units and steps all converge on a parked aircraft within a few minutes of chocks on. Most of them have poor rearward visibility, several of them are being driven by someone at the end of a night shift, and none of them can hear you.
- Assume you have not been seen. Make eye contact with a driver before crossing behind a vehicle.
- Walk the marked routes even when the diagonal is obviously shorter.
- Never walk between a moving loader and the aircraft.
- Treat a raised loader platform as a fall hazard for the people on it and a crush hazard for the people under it.
Main Deck Loading
Freight-specific and worth its own paragraph. A main deck door is a large opening at height with unit load devices moving through it. The hazards are falls from the loader platform and from the door sill, unrestrained loads, and the pinch points where a ULD meets guide rails and locks. It is also the moment when a lot of people are working close together in noise.
Jet Blast, Intakes and Propellers
Every year somebody gets hurt behind an aircraft that is about to move or in front of one that is running. Engine intake and exhaust danger areas are larger than they look, jet blast will move a set of steps or a person, and a turboprop in low light is close to invisible. Beacon on means treat the aircraft as live.
Foreign Object Debris
FOD damage costs the industry a great deal and is entirely preventable by people picking things up. On a freight ramp the usual culprits are pallet strapping, shrink wrap, cargo netting, broken dolly parts and paperwork. If you see it, pick it up. The FAA's FOD material covers the programme side.
High-Visibility Discipline and Hearing
Wear the jacket, including for the walkaround, including at three in the morning when the ramp looks empty, including when you are only going twenty metres. Hearing protection matters more than people credit: apron noise is well above the level at which permanent damage accumulates, and it accumulates over a career rather than over a night. NIOSH's occupational noise pages are the reference.
Weather on the Apron
- Ice. Ramps are not gritted as promptly as roads. Most winter ramp injuries are simple falls.
- Wind. Doors, panels and loose equipment become hazards; so does a cargo door in a gust.
- Lightning. Aerodromes suspend ramp operations for a reason. If handling stops, you stop too.
- Heat. See the Middle East notes.
- Darkness. Carry a torch. Older cargo aprons are lit for vehicles, not for people.
Wildlife
Bird and animal activity peaks at dawn and dusk and is a real risk at regional fields, on coastal aerodromes and after rain. Report what you see to the aerodrome — wildlife hazard management depends on the reports it receives. See Down Under for the regional extreme.
Dangerous Goods
Freight carries dangerous goods legitimately and, occasionally, illegitimately when something has been misdeclared. Lithium batteries are the standing concern of the last decade. The rules are the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and your operator's dangerous goods manual; the crew-level point is to know where the notification to captain lives and to treat any smell, smoke or unusual heat report from the main deck as immediately serious.
The One-Line Version
Jacket on, torch out, eyes up, walk the marked route, assume the driver has not seen you, and do not hurry across a ramp for a sort window. Nothing on the load sheet is worth it.