Coronavirus require separate Crew lanes
 

With the spread of Coronavirus rapidly now exceeding other contagious viruses, working crew should be isolated from travelling public at departure and arrival areas, currently crew are herded together with all passengers from different flights and countries prior to any passenger screening for illness. Crew should stand firmly on this issue as we are exposed every day at work. Airports, without dedicated and separation for crew, should be avoided. The risk of catching this virus is higher than being hit by a vehicle on the apron, but god help us if we don’t wear a high vis vest on the apron. What’s being done about protection against the spread of a virus to crew...Nothing because catching this virus is “getting sick” and not deemed an accident so no input from OSH. Lobby your union rep’s, and management now, don’t be queuing up for long periods with possible infected carriers of these viruses because this is where they spread and will infect you and then your family.

Good one.....

Interesting............

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1aa617e34c.jpg

Interesting reading this morning that there are still direct flights from Wuhan to Bali operating as we speak.

With a virus that is contagious without showing symptoms (i.e thermal scans are useless) Australian crews from Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin are being put in situations where they will have a high risk of exposure. As an example in Bali all crew and pax are exiting into a very constrained area to exit the airport.

I don’t think Qantas Medical has any idea about situations like this, imagine the publicity for one of the airlines if crew bring this virus into the community, let alone the health of their families.

If that is the case then why did the cabin crew on the Wuhan-Learmonth flight allegedly sit on the upper deck for the duration?

​​​​​​​It would be nice if middle management knew that QF130 is from Shanghai and not Beijing....... :ugh::ugh:

i did a quick search on FR24 and looks like they’re all cancelled. I hope that’s the case

So because an internal Qantas medical officer has given them advice, they claim it’s lawful?

Don’t make me laugh.

Hopefully your unions are onto that.

That needs to be followed by a letter demanding that if crew catch Coronavirus, Qantas will deem them to have been infected in the course of their employment and fully indemnify crew against all medical costs, incidental costs, loss of income and permanent injury up to and including death.

To put it another way, it is not “unreasonable” to assume that working in public transport is many times more risky than staying at home. I fully expect all public transport workers, and their unions, will think likewise shortly.

The news this morning is ominous; it’s not the 13 cases, it’s the admission we are testing another 213 people with symptoms.

And why was the aircraft disinfected, according to news reports, after the all-volunteer crew flew it back?

One rule for some and a separate rule for others.

Fools, in their haste to penalise someone, they can't even get basics like from where the aircraft originated correct.

TBM, everyone who manages employees has to have a working knowledge of OH&S. Furthermore you can go to jail for NOT knowing your responsibilities. Every employer has a duty to provide a safe workplace.

What airline?

really? Wuhan is currently in lockdown with no flights at all, trains or buses.....

Indonesia ain’t that dumb either.

True, however has anyone ever gone to jail other than the rare construction site death conviction?

Now this is how you disinfect flights back from Wuhan, the Indonesian way.


I believe this was an evacuation flight from Wuhan to Batam on Batik Air's A330.

As opposed to every other staff member, from the bridge driver, gate staff, dispatch staff, border agencies, baggage services staff etc etc etc.
You already get dedicated crew lanes so you don't have to line up with the rest of the rabble. Wear your mask and gloves like everyone else if you are worried.
Harden up princess.

Anyone working with the general public - doctors, nurses, cabin crew and checkout staff are all at higher risk than someone working from home.

No sh!t, Einstein?

Exactly. I call bulls#$t that there are still flights that are operating Wuhan to Bali unless it’s a evacuation flight.

So:

1. anyone who has been in China in recent times is, if they’re allowed into Australia, is required to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
2. those evacuated from Wuhan are sent to quarantine on Christmas island for 14 days.

To me this is a clear indication that anyone – anyone – coming from China is considered by the authorities to have the potential to be infected, and/or infectious.

So, to my mind, it is not unreasonable for a worker to refuse to have anything to do with an aircraft that has come from China and has possibly carried a someone infected.

What was Joyce’s response to the TWU?

You don’t already have separate crew lanes in Australia? :confused:

So what about the airlines still flying into Australia including QF until the weekend?
QF 1st, are crew to quarantine themselves for 14 days?
Chinese airlines, are crew to quarantine themselves for 14 days? What about crew members standing around reception areas at the various hotels whilst checking in? The issue grows when you consider transport from terminal to hotels, hotels and other guests, hotel cleaners, etc.

Still a Swiss cheese approach by the govern-not here.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...c32c29a90d4956

Very disappointing from QF. It is not unreasonable for any worker (or their estate)who may suffer illness or death to request that their entitlement to a safe workplace be investigated by regulatory authorities and any negligent individual / company dutifully penalised.

Hands up QF management volunteering to serve at the front line and clean the aircraft!??? .......silence....

By the way I’m a QF frequent flyer of over 20yrs but I think their approach stinks to high heaven.

From the news article

Quote:

---

It’s a reasonable concern … people are dying left, right and centre.

---

Umm,,,,no they're not.
Only two outside mainland China, both were Chinese, both had travelled to Wuhan prior, and both had other health issues (like nearly all people who die from influenza)

Since only aircrew who have been wearing appropriate PPE are allowed in, I would imagine that they "self-isolate" at their hotel for the day or two they are on layover. As far as mingling with other guests, transport etc, I imagine they mingle no more than the relevant Aussies who pass through the rest of the airport, carpark, taxi, train, bus, on their way home to "self-isolate". I would also imagine that hotels would be aware that the crew are Chinese, and have adopted suitable cleaning regimes for the rooms used.
How many aircrew around the world have been confirmed with Coronavirus since the outbreak?

Yeah all good points, thank you.

Are you kidding??? That would be elitist and lead to a sense of entitlement by crew and resentment by everyone else. Very un-Australian.

It would also interfere with the “us and them” night-club bouncer mentality that Australian customs work so hard to maintain.
Next you’ll want them to stop shouting at tired pax with English as a fifth language who are trying to determine which lane they need to go down.
Wont happen.

Sort of defeats the purpose, segregating them, when they're about to (or have just) spend many hours sharing the same oxygen as the punters...:confused:

I don’t think viruses are smart enough to know which lane is crew and which lane is pax. They’re airborne pathogens and will indiscriminately infect which ever human they encounter first, regardless.

Exactly how many passengers and crew have been infected as a result of travelling on an aircraft from China to Australia?
The relative number of cases outside China tends to suggest that the virus is not particularly transmittable on aircraft or there would have been plenty as a result of the elevated numbers that travelled from China in the early days of the virus.

The 5 confirmed in isolation at the Gold Coast are part of the same tour group that earlier flew from MEL to OOL on a Tiger flight. So far no other passenger (or crew) from that flight has tested positive. The remaining members of the tour group are still in quarantine at the hospital as well.

That's really great.

Unfortunately it only takes 1 to arrive on a plane to spread it over an entire continent.

Several have arrived on planes, and it has not spread over continents. Let's get real about the actual risk of contracting this thing.

Possibly, however lets take the number of passengers that travelled from China to Australia (only) say from Christmas Day until mid-December; call it 5 weeks.
And we'll only look at Qantas flights, some which had no precautions at all in the early part of the outbreak; 10 per week @ 300 pax on each. That's 15,000 pax and crew (they'd been out and about on their overnights too).

To the best of my knowledge, none of those passengers or crew have been found to have contracted the virus on the aircraft. Added to that, no-one who was aboard the inbound flight or Tiger flight with the 4 or 5 affected passengers now in Queensland, appear to have been infected either.

Multiply that across every other non-Chinese airline operating from China and Hong Kong to various destinations around the world and it's hard to justify the hysteria displayed from some quarters, even here on Pprune amongst 'professionals', who would have you believe that just to be close to a passenger cabin is a death sentence (my hysterics! :)).

Yes, definitely maintain the precautions - they're apparently working - but contain the hysteria. It only makes a poor situation worse.

Yeah right. Perhaps a ship with self contained cabins would be less risk of spread. Oh wait.......

Given that most specialists in this field are suggesting it's more likely you'll contract the virus from your hands rather than through breathing, I guess sharing the utensils at the lunch and dinner buffets is not recommended on the cruise ship.

ok then. Let’s just say, for arguments sake, that you are a boss and I am an employee of you. Would you get angry at me for refusing to do a flight if I believed that the risk to myself was more than what you believed, and try to dictate that I do the flight or whatever just because you say it’s ok?

we all have different risk levels, I agree. But that does not mean that I should blindly follow what my employer tells me to do just because they say it’s ok.

if you, as boss, goes and crews the flight then I might (not will) be more willing to accept- but if the boss isn’t actively putting themselves in harms way, I sure as **** ain’t.

p.s- it hasn’t spread over continents? Really?

p.p.s I do realise “Coronavirus” is effectively another strain of the flu (I’m not a doctor, let’s not pick apart the nitty gritty of that statement). But this strain has so many unknowns. Is it an over-reaction on the worlds part? Maybe, maybe not. As I said before, we have our own level of risk we are willing to take.
Me, I’d personally like it to be an overreaction but at the same time I’m not willing to put myself at increased risk.

Even if it turns out to be “lesser” than expected in mortality rates, isn’t it at very least a very good test run or fire drill for the world to see how quickly and efficiently they can contain a fast spreading virus? (or how quickly they can cover it up and inadvertendly stuff the entire population)

" Is it an over-reaction on the worlds part?"

Coronovirus deaths in China = 636

Number of Chinese killed every year in motor accidents = 63,772 (2017)


Maybe you'd be better off stopping Chinese motorists into the country........