BALPA Position
I dont agree with all that CARGO BOY implies about the BALPA FSG but agree at least as a union they seem to be doing something albeit a bit late for a chap I went through flight training with, a victim to air quality.
The following was posted on the BALPA forum by one of the NEC reps yesterday and may be of interest.......
Dear All
BALPA has been pursuing the issue of contamination of the cabin air supply for some time now and is currently the leading pilot union authority on these matters worldwide. Our research led to the recent BALPA Contaminated Air Protection Conference held in London in April. All interested parties were offered the opportunity to speak such as airlines, engine and aircraft manufacturers, industry representatives etc.. and all those who responded were accommodated, including representatives of the FAA, the RAAF, and medical and academic authorities from the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia. Unions, doctors, lawyers and air system manufacturers also presented papers.
The conference conclusions were:
There is a workplce problem resulting in chronic and acute illness amongst flight crew (both pilots and cabin crew).
The workplace in which these illnessses are being induced is the aircraft cabin environment.
This, we conclude is resulting in significant flight safety issues, in addition to unacceptable flight crew personnel health implications.
Of some concern was whether crews were:
1. identifying the presence of fumes,
2. correctly carrying out the drills developed by manufactures and operators to minimise the health risk to crews and the risk of incapacitation of the crew,
3. accuracy of reporting of both serious and less serious occurrences of cabin air contamination.
The need to consider and act on the first two aspects mentioned above should be obvious to all, so should require little further explanation except to say that whilst BALPA works with ASHRAE and others to develop contaminated air detection equipment, everyone has a different sense of smell and crews are not tested at medical renewal for their ability to smell, so do not expect both crews to perceive the amount or level of contamination equally. Also, please remember that several incidents have clearly shown that crews quickly become de-sensitised, i.e. can no longer tell that contaminats are still present. The third item, the accuracy of reporting should be of interest to all if issues related to air contamination are to be minimised. Without accurate reports there can be no rectification of the problem, be it an intermittent one or, one needing a service bulletin or modification to correct.
Thus, we would urge you to follow the drills that have been provided for you diligently to ensure the immediate safety of the aircraft and occupants as well as to protect your health. To ensure the safety of future operations, record accurately the details needed both to solve the problem and to avoid unnecessary costs due to inappropriate response to a poorly recorded event.
Further information is available from the UK CAA in the FODCOMs 17/2000, 14/2001 and 21/2002. These three FODCOMS give more extensive guidance and information on this subject. FODCOM 17/2000 details incapacitation procedures. FODCOM 14/2001 gives details on the use of oxygen masks. FODCOM 21/2002 details smoke and fume occurrences in some detail and is a very good read. Very clear guidance includes the statement:
These should at least include the necessity to use oxygen masks at 100% whenever contamination is present or suspected and the need to establish communications by the appropriate switch selections.
It is also worth mentioning in these difficult times for airlines globally that filter manufacturers advised at the conference that hot bleed air filtration exists and would cost less than £15,000 to fit on a twin engine jet such as the Boeing 757.