Runway construction workers
 

Does anyone know if runway/taxiway construction workers must go through airport screening? It seems to me that if they are repairing the tarmac or building a jetbridge, they are close enough to the aircraft to possibly plant something on the plane.

This comes after the news that here in Phoenix (where I live), it was discovered that rampers only have to show their ID badge and not be screened between midnight and 4:30am.

Since no one has answered, I'm going to make a feeble attempt. I don't know the offical answer but from what I observe at my airport some of these workers have SIDA badges & others are escorted by airport operations officers.

The construction workers that I've observed all possess SIDA badges. This is most likely due to the fact that to operate a vehicle on the ramp at my station in routine operations, you have to go through a driving exam. I suspect they badge in and out of their work area much like we do, and probably glad for it on the days when TSA decides that their lunch box contains a bomb disguised as a ham sandwich and pudding cup.

Yes and No

Not all of the trades i.e Electrical, Concrete, workers will have SIDA badges.

These people must be escorted and supervised by workers with a SIDA badge.

OK, stupid question, what's a SIDA badge? Who wears one? Flight Crews? The kid working at the Starbucks or Hudson News?

Secure Identification Display Area.

Anyone who isn't a ticketed passenger is supposed to prominently display an airport- or airline-specific badge, especially in the parts of the airport not accessible to the public. Workers or maintenance people are permitted to have the necessary tools of their trade, but they are either badged or escorted by badged personnel.

I recently (finally) got my badge for IAD for overseeing some of the construction going on there. If a large delivery needs to be made to the site (several flatbeds worth of structural steel, or 7,000 yards of concrete for a large pour, for example), and the drivers are not themselves badged, it is the GC's responsibility to alert the guards at the gate ahead of time, coordinate schedules and provide manifests, proper escorts, etc. so that enough manpower is available to search the vehicles and do the rest of the security hoo-hah.