Speech to the Aircraft Air
Quality Symposium
John Woodley
Australian Democrats Senator for Queensland
9.15 Thursday 7 December
Australian Defence Force Academy
University of New South Wales
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this symposium. I believe this topic is more important than the public realise.
There are studies around showing people are more likely to get sick from the air in aeroplane cabins than they are to be injured in an aeroplane crash, proves how important this issue is.
The Senate Report
The airlines tell us everything's fine. The Senate Inquiry found everything is not fine.
The Senate Report found there is short and medium-term and possibly long-term illness caused by exposure to oil fumes in aircraft cabin air. It found the possible link between sick flight crew and air safety is too important to ignore. It found there have been hundreds of incidents where aircraft cabin air has been contaminated in Australia.
Recent incidents in the last 12 months in Australia and overseas where small planes crashed because of air pressure issues and in France where a Concorde crashed seemingly because of the lack of an optional modification - which might have prevented a fire - show how little things can cause big tragedies.
The Senate Report recommended that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority draft new laws to deal with this relatively new problem so the airlines will be legally required to:
· take planes with contaminated air out of service and fix them;
· get a national standard for checking and monitoring engine seals and air quality in all commercial passenger jet aircraft;
· monitor and evaluate aircraft cabin air regularly and give CASA regular reports of these studies; and
· set reporting guidelines on cabin air quality for flight crew.
The report also recommended the national Occupation Health and Safety Commission consider including what they call 'AERO-TOXIC syndrome' in appropriate codes for reference in Workers Compensation cases. There was also a call for a large scale inquiry into aircraft cabin air by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
There are many other recommendations that go to heart of this problem but we're here today to discuss where to take the report from here.
The House of Lords Report
You may be aware of another inquiry into air travel and health in England. The report of the House of Lords Inquiry into Air Travel and Health was also recently released and was a mixed bag. The House of Lords found:
· claims that oil fumes contaminating aircraft cabin air were a health hazard were unsubstantiated;
· that there was no significant impact from air travel on the health of the majority of the travelling public but there are impacts for a minority of passengers;
· but that more information should be given to passengers about health risks from air travel;
· while risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis in travellers is small, the risk is there and needs more study and
· recommended air ventilation/filtration requirements be reviewed and improved; air quality monitoring be improved.
So while the Lords found there’s still a bit of an open question on the effect of fumes, the Lords Report recommended that the aviation industry review and substantially improve overall performance of high efficiency particulate air filters – so-called ‘HEPA’ filters and draft best practice standards for the use of HEPA filters so that they are mandatory in recirculatory systems.
I also want to make the point that while a lot of people have argued to the inquiry that only a minority of people are affected by fumes in aircraft cabins, and that those effects are not definitive, this does not in my view diminish the seriousness of the issue.
The evidence to the Senate Inquiry of Chris Van Netten, Associate Professor of Occupational Health at the University of British Columbia, and probably one of the most eminent experts on these issues, is important to note here.
When asked to comment on evidence that some individuals have different responses to fumes, Professor Van Netten told the inquiry that, and I quote:
“We should not forget that there is a specific self-evident truth here. The most sensitive people get sick first and they are your early warning signs of a potential problem. Often these people are looked upon as hypochondriacs or complainers and this is doing the system injustice because it is actually quite dangerous no not pay attention to these people. They are your early warning signs that something is wrong.”
So it is the classic canary in the coalmine situation.
The government must respond
Most members of the public associated with the Senate Inquiry - Susan Michaelis who invited me here today - and others - have learned how Senate reports work.
Recommendations of Senate Reports are not automatically adopted by the government - reports serve as in-depth studies of an issue. Senate Inquiries provide a forum where all parties get the chance to put their side, and discuss the evidence and data. Recommendations are just that: recommendations.
The government has minimum of 3 months to respond with a formal statement in parliament. Usually the statement goes through each recommendation with an indication of whether it will be actioned, has been actioned, or is rejected. Sometimes several recommendations are taken up - as they were with a Senate Report into the commercial use of wildlife - sometimes they are not.
I have received an assurance from the Minister that the Department is already working on a response to the Senate Report which is expected in January next year at the earliest.
The for members of the public to get recommendations adopted is by lobbying government members of parliament and raising the Senate Report in the media and in public.
The Democrats will be putting pressure on the government both internally - through government members of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee - which produced the BAe-146 Report - and externally by commenting and raising awareness of this issue through the media and public fora such as this.
Members of the public can show the government you want these recommendations adopted by simply contacting your local members and Senators and the Minister for Transport, John Anderson and saying so. Outline which recommendations specifically you feel should be adopted.
The public and the scientific, medical and aviation communities must indicate to the government that they are aware of the Senate recommendations and want them adopted.
The report is out there. I am proud to say that the Australian Democrats played a constructive role in getting the issue of aircraft cabin air raised in the Senate and in the media and discussed publicly. The report is a comprehensive collection of evidence and analysis of this issue. It is now up to the public and interested parties to use it.
I took this issue up when a flight attendant called Judy Cullinane contacted my office two years ago while I was the Australian Democrats' Aviation Spokesman. After two years working on this issue and getting to know the people involved I am utterly convinced of the genuine concerns of flight crew and others whose lives have been affected by contaminated air on BAe 146 and other types of aircraft.
We've produced this report. I hope it will be seen as advancing our knowledge of the hazards of flying as well as serving as a catalyst to get action by the regulators to improve aviation health and safety.
John Woodley