Airport safety begins on the ground, with the workers we too often ignore

By Annette Quijano and Ana Maria Hill

When people think of airports, they picture pilots in cockpits or air traffic controllers guiding planes safely through crowded skies.

But this summer in Newark, an urgent safety crisis wasn’t in the air — it was on the ground, behind the scenes.

Workers on the tarmac and in cargo warehouses endured punishing heat, sometimes exceeding 100 degrees. One Newark cargo agent, Ashley, described feeling dizzy and lightheaded in an office without air conditioning, while colleagues in the metal-sided warehouse worked in conditions that felt like “an oven.”

This is not just uncomfortable, it’s dangerous, and it puts the entire airport system at risk.

Every day, tens of thousands of travelers pass through Newark Liberty International Airport. Beyond being on