Could ISO 45001 Have Saved BA £3.5m?

In May 2025, British Airways (BA) was handed a record £3.5 million fine after two employees suffered serious injuries in preventable accidents at Heathrow Airport. The incidents - both involving workers falling from height - prompted a full Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation, which uncovered serious management failings around workplace safety.

This is far more than an isolated case: it’s a wake-up call for UK businesses in aviation, transport, and other high-risk sectors. Had BA implemented the global standard ISO 45001:2018, much of this harm - and the resulting fine - could likely have been avoided.

What Happened at Heathrow?

The first accident occurred in March 2018, when a British Airways technician was working on a Boeing 777 aircraft at one of Heathrow’s maintenance hangars. The technician was working at height when they fell more than 2 metres from an unguarded section of an aircraft stand - landing heavily and sustaining life-changing injuries to their head and body.

Less than two years later, in November 2020, a second BA worker fell from a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP) during similar maintenance operations at the same Heathrow site. In this case, the worker fractured several ribs and suffered a serious back injury.

The HSE investigation concluded that BA had:

• Failed to carry out proper risk assessments for work at height.

• Provided inadequate training and supervision.

• Ignored staff concerns about equipment and procedures.

• Failed to learn lessons after the first accident - allowing similar risks to persist.

HSE Inspector Megan Carr commented:"These were entirely preventable incidents. Despite previous warnings, British Airways continued to operate unsafe systems of work that exposed their staff to harm."

As a result, BA was fined £3.5 million and ordered to pay £180,000 in costs at Isleworth Crown Court.

The Role ISO 45001 Could Have Played

ISO 45001:2018 is the international standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS). It provides a proactive, structured approach for organisations to manage safety risks and ensure worker well-being.

Had BA implemented ISO 45001 across its Heathrow operations, here’s how the situation could have been different:

1. Comprehensive Risk Assessments

ISO 45001 requires organisations to systematically identify hazards and assess the risks associated with them (Clause 6.1.2).

A robust risk assessment for work at height would have:

• Identified unguarded areas on aircraft stands.

• Flagged training gaps related to MEWP use.

• Triggered action to install physical barriers, update procedures, and review equipment before anyone was injured.

2. Employee Participation and Feedback

ISO 45001 places strong emphasis on worker participation (Clause 5.4).

Had BA encouraged open reporting and acted on staff concerns, it might have:

• Uncovered unsafe practices that employees were witnessing.

• Addressed issues with equipment or procedures earlier.

• Fostered a culture of prevention, where hazards were dealt with before resulting in harm.

Instead, the HSE found that staff feedback on safety risks was being overlooked.

3. Leadership Accountability

ISO 45001 ensures that top management is fully accountable for health and safety performance (Clause 5.1).

If ISO 45001 had been embedded, BA executives would have been legally and operationally required to:

• Review safety performance regularly.

• Ensure lessons from previous incidents were acted upon.

• Allocate resources to prevent recurrence after the first fall.

One of the most damning findings in the BA case was the failure to act after the 2018 incident - something that ISO 45001’s continuous improvement cycle would have strongly mitigated.

4. Training and Competence

Clause 7.2 of ISO 45001 requires that all workers are competent to perform their roles safely.

With an ISO 45001-aligned training system in place, BA would have ensured:

• MEWP operators were fully trained on safety protocols.

• Aircraft stand technicians were aware of fall protection requirements.

• Supervisors were empowered to stop unsafe work.

In both Heathrow incidents, training gaps and unclear supervision contributed to the risks.

5. Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

ISO 45001 encourages organisations to monitor, audit, and continually improve safety performance (Clauses 9 and 10).

At BA, internal audits may have flagged:

• Gaps in control measures after the first fall.

• Training deficiencies.

• The need for updated procedures when using MEWPs.

Crucially, ISO 45001 requires organisations to learn from incidents - something that, in this case, was clearly lacking.

Why ISO 45001 Is Now Essential

The BA Heathrow case is not an outlier. Work at height remains the leading cause of fatal and serious injury in UK workplaces - across aviation, construction, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics.

ISO 45001 provides the tools to break this cycle - by embedding prevention, leadership responsibility, worker participation, and continuous learning into the organisation’s DNA.

For businesses operating in:

• Airports

• Transport and logistics hubs

• Construction and facilities management

• Energy and utilities

… ISO 45001 is no longer a “nice-to-have” - it’s a critical safeguard for:

✅ Compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act

✅ Prevention of costly enforcement action

✅ Protection of employees

✅ Brand and stakeholder trust

Conclusion: Learn the Lesson Before It’s Too Late

British Airways now faces a £3.5 million fine, two injured workers, and reputational damage - because basic safety principles were not followed.

The sad truth is: these incidents were preventable.

ISO 45001:2018 offers a clear, structured way to ensure this doesn’t happen in your organisation. By embedding proactive risk management and a safety-first culture, businesses can protect their people - and avoid the fines, injuries, and fallout seen in the BA case.

Don’t wait for an HSE investigation to highlight your gaps. Sign up to a Certification Audit with AAA and take the first step towards achieving ISO 45001 certification.