Behind every safe take-off is a ground crew, a culture, anda shared commitment to doing things right.

This week marks UK Airports Health and Safety Week 2025, an opportunity for the entire aviation community to focus on the three pillars of strong safety performance: enhancing safety, preventing incidents, and supporting wellbeing across the sector.

Whether it’s moving vehicles on the apron, the stress of fast-paced operations, or a single handrail missed in a hurry, the risks faced by airport teams are complex and ever-present. The industry has made strong progress, but there’s still room to improve how we learn from near misses and failures, track patterns, and strengthen processes. What matters now is how we keep building on that progress, together.

The pressure of the turnaround window

Aircraft turnaround is one of the most time-sensitive activities in the aviation cycle. Refuelling, baggage handling, catering, maintenance and cleaning all happen within a narrow window, very often under pressure, in challenging weather, and involving several different contractors.

This environment requires precision and coordination. It also requires shared responsibility for safety. According to the Health and Safety Executive, the most common causes of airside incidents remain consistent: slips, trips, falls from height, manual handling injuries, and equipment positioning issues. These are not theoretical risks, they are practical problems with real-world consequences.

Photos shared in HSE’s guidance show the kinds of issues that lead to harm: gaps between loaders and cargo doors, missing or unused guard rails, unsafe access points. These are small oversights that can lead to life-changing injuries. Often they’re not caused by reckless behaviour, but by stretched resources, tight schedules, or assumptions that something has already been checked.

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Safety is also about what we can’t see

While physical hazards are often easy to spot and manage, the psychological strain of working in a high-pressure airport environment is less visible and just as impactful. Fatigue, stress, and the cumulative effects of demanding shifts or repeated near misses can quietly influence concentration, judgement, and long-term wellbeing. This year’s focus on stress and mental health from the HSE is timely. Recognising the role of mental load in safety performace and it's importance for protecting operational reliability. There are practical steps airports can take to reduce that hidden pressure:

• Regular wellbeing check-ins with front-line teams, especially following incidents or operational disruptions
• Stress-aware shift design, including adequate rest between duties, realistic task loads, and rotation of high-demand roles
• Training for supervisors to spot early signs of fatigue, emotional distress, or burnout
• Encouraging early reporting of mental strain without stigma, through trusted channels
• Debriefing after incidents, not just to learn what went wrong but to give staff the chance to speak openly
• Embedding mental health into safety culture, where psychological safety is treated with the same urgency as physical safety

Making these actions part of your wider safety approach reinforces a culture where people feel seen, supported, and equipped to do their job safely.
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From reactive to proactive

Safety culture isn’t just about what happens after an incident. It’s about building systems that help prevent incidents in the firstplace. That includes:

• Fast, structured reporting of near misses and hazards
• Consistent investigation practices across all teams and contractors
• Easy visibility of trends and patterns
• Trust in the systems used to flag and act on issues

When different teams use different reporting tools or none at all, it becomes harder to identify recurring problems. What might appear as isolated events are often symptoms of deeper operational challenges.
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How COMET supports continuous improvement

COMET helps airports move from reactive compliance to proactive learning. Our software provides a single investigation and root cause analysis (RCA) framework that everyone involved in turnaround can use, including airport staff, third-party contractors, safety teams and operational managers.

With COMET, airports can:

• Capture and investigate incidents using consistent, structured workflows
• Identify root causes, not just surface issues
• Spot patterns across shifts, locations or service providers
• Track corrective actions through to completion
• Build internal confidence and external transparency in safety reporting

The result is not just fewer forms. It’s better insight. Better conversations. Better safety decisions.
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Every detail matters

A loose cable, a wet surface, a missed hand signal. Small things become big risks when safety systems aren’t joined up. But just as risk can grow from repetition, so can safety, if the learning is shared and acted upon.

UK Airports Health and Safety Week is a reminder of what’s at stake, but also of what’s possible. It’s a chance to ask: what’s working, what still needs attention, and how do we build on what we’ve learned?

At COMET, we’re proud to support airports on that journey. From slips and stress to complex turn around operations, we help teams take a clear, evidence-led approach to safety, one that’s practical, repeatable, and focused on continuous improvement.

Want to learn more?

If you're exploring how to enhance your turnaround safety, unify investigation processes or reduce incident repetition, we're here to help.

Get in touch to explore how COMET can support your safety goals.