Optics and the Worsening Immateriality of Fact

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined Piedmont Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines, $15,625 in the wake of a horrific, December 2022 accident in which a ramp worker was killed on the job.

In addition to instantiating the maximum dollar-amount permitted under law, the penalty levied by OSHA is sharply contraindicated by empirical evidence collected and reported upon by the NTSB.

Courtney Edwards, a baggage handler in the employ of Piedmont Airlines, lost her life on 31 December 2022 after being bodily ingested into the operating portside engine of an Embraer E175LR regional jet parked on the ramp of Alabama’s Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM).

A variant of Embraer’s popular E-Jet family of four-abreast, narrow-body airliners, the four-year-old E175LR involved in the accident was operated by Envoy Air—another American Airlines subsidiary, the aircraft of which operate under the American Eagle brand.

Designated American Airlines Flight 3408, the E175LR was slated to depart MGM’s Gate-4 at 15:46 CST and proceed nonstop to DFW. The flight, for reasons glaringly self-evident, was canceled.

Notwithstanding Edwards having been formally trained to comply with ramp safety rules implemented by the airline and repeatedly warned of the perils of disregarding such, OSHA deemed Piedmont culpable in the death of the 34-year-old mother of three.

OSHA opined: "The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or were likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees that were exposed to ingestion and jet blast hazards.”

That ramp work is inherently hazardous is an axiomatic truth left unacknowledged by OSHA.

Piedmont Airlines spokeswoman Crystal Byrd declared: "Safety is always our top priority for our team members. We appreciate the recommendations from OSHA and will ensure that a thorough review is accomplished."

The OSHA penalty belies the NTSB’s January 2023 preliminary report on the accident, in which the agency set forth the ground crew of which Edwards was part held not one but two safety meetings prior to Flight 3408’s arrival in Montgomery.

The first meeting was convened ten-minutes before the aircraft landed at MGM. The second meeting—a safety huddle held immediately prior to Flight 3408’s arrival at MGM Gate-4—was held for purpose of reminding workers the arriving aircraft’s “engines would remain running” and explicitly advising ramp personnel the jet should be kept clear of until its engines had been shut down by the flight-crew and its rotating beacon turned off.

The NTSB report further stated Flight 3408’s SIC attempted to inform ramp workers that the aircraft’s engines were still running.

The report continued: "Immediately thereafter, he [the SIC] saw a warning light illuminate and the airplane shook violently followed by the immediate automatic shutdown of the number-one engine. Unsure of what had occurred, he extinguished the emergency lights and shut off both batteries before leaving the flight deck to investigate.”

NTSB investigators reported the Embraer’s rotating beacon remained illuminated throughout the incident.

Airport video surveillance showed Edwards walking along the leading-edge of the Embraer’s left wing and in front of its number-one (portside) engine.

A co-worker shouted a warning and waved Edwards off, compelling her to commence moving away from the aircraft—albeit to no avail.

"She was subsequently pulled off her feet and into the operating engine," the NTSB report asserted.

In the hours following the tragedy, Montgomery Regional Airport set forth in a statement: “Today around three-p.m. an American Airlines ground crew Piedmont employee was involved in a fatality. No additional information is available at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased.”

MGM executive director Wade A. Davis remarked: “We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of AA/Piedmont Airlines. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.”

American Airlines, too, condoled the worker’s death, stating: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our local team members. We are focused on ensuring that all involved have the support they need during this difficult time.”

Upon receiving the OSHA citation, Piedmont Airlines will have 15 business days to pay the likely wrongly-assessed penalty.

An online fundraiser undertaken to support Edwards’s children has raised upwards of $122,000.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov