No Liquids Allowed, Catering Staff Excluded

Aug. 11, 2006 — -- Now that the government has banned liquids from the luggage people carry on planes, what about all the other liquids brought on aircraft?

Despite strict carry-on regulations for passengers, authorities made no changes in thestandard procedures for catering services, which security analysts said are an obvious access point for terrorists wanting to stow potentially dangerous substances onboard aircraft.

"This is one of the doors that has to be slammed very rapidly," said John Nance, ABC's aviation consultant. "It's a very vulnerable area."

Airline industry officials claim that catering service staffs already undergo extensive background checks before gaining employment.

"All those employees are badged [with identification passes]," said Amy Kudwa, spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration. "There are background checks. ... The system has been in place for years."

Roxanne Conrad, director of corporate communications for LSG Sky Chefs, a catering company, said, "We have very stringent security checks in place. We're very regularly in contact with TSA, and we do FBI background checks."

But analysts said recent developments show the need to continually reappraise security procedures to ensure the safety of the entire system as terrorists search for new ways to breach defenses.

"[Terrorists] are not going to stop looking for weaknesses," Nance warned. "Our success over the past five years has led to ... apathy."

Part of the problem are the types of jobs available within the airline catering industry. In most cases, they produce high turnover, low wages and tough industry competition. This makes it difficult for companies to stringently monitor their employees, a situation that is hard to combat, said Nance.

And Nance believes further changes are essential to secure the safety of the system.

A national database for all airport staff is imperative, said Nance, but so far, only "lip service" has been given to the idea, he added.

Other possible changes in regulations include a rule ensuring that no person is ever alone in the galley while stocking the aircraft; another possibility, said Nance, would be a rotating staff system, so that employees could not predict who they will work with on a given day.