Aviation Security (focusing on Training and Retention of Screeners): Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Aviation of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Second Session, March 16, 2000 |
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access control access to secure Admiral FLYNN air carriers aircraft airlines airport ID airport operators assessments background investigation requirements bags cargo carry-on certification process certify screening companies Chairman checked baggage computer-based training CONG CONGRESS THE LIBRARY countries crimes DEFAZIO deployment detection equipment detection rate developed DILLINGHAM disqualifying DOUBRAVA DUNCAN effective employees ensure environment evaluation explosive detection systems explosives detection explosives-detection equipment FAA's Federal Aviation Administration GILCHRIST goals Hatch Amendment Heimann Systems HULDs human factors implement Improve Aviation Security industry installed InVision Technologies issue LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIPINSKI LOBIONDO ment monitor narrow-body aircraft National OBERSTAR percent performance problems personnel Port-au-Prince International Airport Rapiscan recommendations responsibility RIZKALLA Rodney E screening checkpoints secure areas security equipment security measures security programs security screeners STEFANI terrorist Thank threat image projection turnover U.S. airports unit loading devices United VAIDEN x-ray machines
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Page 48 - ... percent. At one airport we visited, of the 993 screeners trained at that airport over about a 1-year period, only 142, or 14 percent, were still employed at the end of that year. Such rapid turnover can seriously limit the level of experience among screeners operating a checkpoint. Both FAA and the aviation industry attribute the rapid turnover to the low wages and minimal benefits screeners receive, along with the daily stress of the job. Generally, screeners are paid at or near the minimum...
Page 48 - ... airport fast-food restaurants to be higher than the wages screeners receive. For instance, at one airport we visited, screeners' wages started as low as $6.25 an hour, whereas the starting wage at one of the airport's fast-food restaurants was $7 an hour. The demands of the job also affect performance.
Page 55 - I will be happy to respond to any questions that you or Members of the Subcommittee may have. CONTACTS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For future contacts regarding this testimony, please call Janet Heinrich at (202) 512-7119.
Page 48 - For instance, at one airport we visited, screeners' wages started as low as $6.25 an hour, whereas the starting wage at one of the airport's fast-food restaurants was $7 an hour. The demands of the job also affect performance. Screening duties require repetitive tasks as well as intense monitoring for the very rare event when a dangerous object might be observed. Too little attention has been given to factors such as (1) improving individuals...
Page 52 - ... OTHER COUNTRIES AND THE UNITED STATES We visited five countries — Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom — viewed by FAA and the civil aviation industry as having effective screening operations to identify screening practices that differ from those in the United States. We found that some significant differences exist in four areas: screening operations, screener qualifications, screener pay and benefits, and institutional responsibility for screening. First, screening...
Page 104 - Flight 800, proved to be the catalyst for taking important steps in aviation security. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have ruled out terrorist activity as a potential cause of the crash, the crash prompted the August 1996 creation of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, (known as the Gore Commission). Its reports in September 19% and February 1997 addressed safety, security, and air traffic control modernization.4...
Page 46 - ... checkpoints and the screeners who operate them are a key line of defense against the introduction of dangerous objects into the aviation system. Over 2 million passengers and their baggage must be checked each day for articles that could pose threats to the safety of an aircraft and those aboard it. The air carriers are responsible for screening passengers and their baggage before they are permitted into the secure areas of an airport or onto an aircraft. Air carriers can use their own employees...
Page 53 - Third, screeners receive relatively better pay and benefits in most of these countries. Whereas screeners in the United States receive wages that are at or slightly above minimum wage, screeners in some countries receive wages that are viewed as being at the "middle income
Page 53 - ... middle income" level in those countries. In the Netherlands, for example, screeners received at least the equivalent of about $7.50 per hour. This wage was about 30 percent higher than the wages at fast-food restaurants in that country. In Belgium, screeners received the equivalent of about $14 per hour. Not only is pay higher, but the screeners in some countries receive benefits, such as health care or vacations — in large part because these benefits are required under the laws of these countries....
Page 48 - ... vigilance. As a result, screeners are being placed on the job who do not have the necessary aptitudes, nor the adequate knowledge to effectively perform the work, and who then find the duties tedious and dull. We reported in June 2000 that FAA was implementing a number of actions to improve screeners