World at work: Aircraft cabin cleaning

Most of us have the experience of travelling on aeroplanes and are impressed by the cleanliness and orderliness of the cabin that welcome us together with the friendly and smiling faces of the aircrew every time we board an aeroplane. The cleanliness and orderliness of the cabin are the results of the hard work of heroes behind the scene—the aircraft cabin cleaners. The work of these cleaners seldom attracts our attention, and in fact, very few of us have directly met with them before.

Aircraft cabin cleaning is a unique type of cleaning work characterised by a high concentration of physical activities in time and space that are not fully under the direct control of the service providers and their workers. The confined workspace (due to maximisation of carrying capacities and comfort of passengers) and the tight work schedule (especially with short stay flights) are potential underlying risk factors for the development of musculoskeletal disorders among the cleaners. In this article, we describe the occupational health aspects of aircraft cabin cleaning at Hong Kong International Airport. Three major companies provide the cabin cleaning services for all aircraft in the airport, and the total number of workers employed is around 1200.

TASKS OF THE JOB

Airline companies usually contract out cabin cleaning to aircraft services companies. There are basically three levels of cleaning services for the aircraft: quick transit cleaning, overnight (lay-over) cleaning, and deep cleaning. The types of services rendered depend on the duration of stay of the aircraft at the airport. The tasks in a typical quick transit cleaning involve: (1) seat cleaning, (2) seat pocket cleaning, (3) ashtray cleaning, (4) galley cleaning, (5) toilet cleaning and replenishment, (6) floor cleaning, and (7) blanket management. Lay-over cleaning is more thorough and in addition to the above processes includes: …