The airport ramp is the crucible of airport operations. It is the convergence of numerous activities, people and equipment all bringing their puzzle pieces, within a complex, parallel (see appendix A) and busy environment (see appendices B and C), to create an aeronautical product. Because of this level of coordinated activity, task and time pressures, and the "heavy metal" that ground handling requires, it is not surprising that ground handlers face a variety of hazards . In addition to the inherent complexity of this coordinated effort, there may be other "players" in and around the boom area during the ground handling (GH) process, further complicating a very frequented; these include security personnel, cargo specialists (e.g. dangerous goods), paramedics, police, ambulance, rescue and firefighting (RFF) and other aviation authorities (aircraft management). airport, national aviation authority personnel). The definition of ground handling according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes that “ground handling covers the complex series of processes necessary to separate an aircraft from its load (passengers, baggage, cargo and mail) upon arrival and combine it with its charge before departure” (IATA). , 2013).The rate of reported incidents, in the ground handling environment, was detailed in the 2006-2007 Airports Council International (ACI) Apron Safety Survey at approximately one incident for 4,000 movements. This rate is in the same range as the 2008 National Aerospace Laboratory (NLP) survey, which indicated a rate of one incident per 5,000 movements (Balk, 2008). The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) estimates that ground incidents cost up to $10 billion per year when considering both direct and indirect costs; for example, reputation...... middle of paper ...... any model relies on a GHO ramp supervisor managing the entire rotation process. The desirable qualities and questions asked during the GHO selection phase came from the FSF GAP program, Ramp Safety Leadership (FSF, 2007), and the CAA Significant Seven Question Bank (CAA, 2012). The GHO chosen to replace 'Belgique Port' is 'Autograph'. Although they are slightly more expensive than the previous GHO, the GSE's anticipated damage reduction, based on their past track record, will more than negate the slight price premium. The Change Management Process Only a limited percentage (typically 30-50%) of major change initiatives have a positive outcome (Dent and Powley, 2001, Kotter, 1995). However, this success rate can be significantly increased if “management has a clear strategy and a way to communicate and pursue that strategy with all employees” (Kotter 1996).