[net-gold] [Workers' Compensation] Victory for an Aircrew for Breathing Contaminated Air
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 06:41:51 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:00:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jon L. Gelman <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] [Workers' Compensation] Victory for an Aircrew for Breathing
Contaminated Air
.
[Workers' Compensation]
Victory for an Aircrew for
Breathing Contaminated Air
A major global legal precedent has
been established with an Australian
flight attendant winning damages for
injury from exposure to aircraft
air contaminated by oil fumes and
smoke.
The problem of aircraft cabin air
becoming contaminated by synthetic
jet engine oils containing
organophosphates (such as Tricresyl
Phosphate, TCP) and a wide range of
chemicals has been ongoing sin
The aviation industry has known about
the potential for exposure to oil
fumes in the cabin and flight deck
during normal commercial flights for
more than 50 years. Instead of
mandating air contaminant filters and
monitors, the industry denies the
problem and allows aircrew and
passengers to breathe oil fumes that
contaminate the aircraft air supply
since the 1950s.
On September 3, 2010 a former
Australian flight attendant became the
first person in the world to win a
civil case resulting from breathing
oil smoke and fumes in the aircraft
cabin on a BAe 146 in Australia in
1992.
The legal precedent Joanne Turner v.
Eastwest Airlines was made in the
High Court of Australia. Ms Turner
a former flight attendant with
Australia’s Ansett and Eastwest
Airlines, was exposed to smoke and
fumes resulting from a failed oil
seal on a BAe 146 flight between
Sydney and Brisbane on 4 March 1992,
while 5 months pregnant.
The court found that Ms Turner was
exposed to oil fumes and smoke
generated from engine oil that had
leaked into a component of the
aircraft air supply system called
the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU
-engine).
The failure of the APU oil seal was
found to be foreseeable, as was the
risk that smoke from the leaking oil
would enter the aircraft cabin.
Cabin smells from oil were noted to
be an ongoing problem acknowledged
by the defendant, with numerous
complaints about the cabin air prior
to the incident on 4 March 1992,
including an entry 10 days prior to
the
incident stating: APU AIR NOT FIT
FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
Ms Turner was found to have been
exposed to Mobil Jet Oil II on
4 March 1992 with the court finding
that pyrolysed effects of Mobil Jet
Oil II are harmful to the lungs.
As such Ms Turner suffered from a
pathological condition to the lungs
caused by exposure to the smoke and
that condition has continued for more
than eighteen years and is expected
to be life-long. As such Ms Turner
was awarded $138,757 Australian
dollars.
The defendant appealed the decision
to the New South Wales Court of
Appeal and then the High Court of
Australia, however subsequently lost
both appeals on 1 April 2010 and 3
September 2010 respectively.
It is well documented that synthetic
jet engine oil leaks into aircraft
cabin air (as a feature of using air
supplied through the engines) and
that such exposures are a flight
safety and health concern, for both
aircrew and passengers. Contaminated
air exposures are now known to be
a normal regular occurrence, an
expected occurrence and regrettably
an accepted occurrence within the
aviation industry.
This court verdict supports the long
held Global Cabinet Air Quality
Executive (GCAQE) view that industry
actions currently being undertaken
to address the issue of exposure to
aircraft bleed air are inadequate.
The court verdict clearly demonstrates
that the call by the industry
for further research to determine
what chemicals are present when
engine oil leaks and how often this
occurs is unwarranted. There is
already enough evidence available to
satisfy the duty of care
requirements.
The benchmark has now been set
supporting that exposure to oil leaking
into the aircraft air supply is harmful
to people, both aircrew and
passengers.
The supply air for the cabin and flight
deck is taken from either the
engine or APU and is not filtered for
engine oil fumes before people
breathe it. Commercial aircraft are
not equipped with detection
equipment to alert the crew that the
air is contaminated, creating an
unacceptable flight safety and public
health issue. The aviation
industry inaction ignores the fact
that aircrew and passengers are owed
a duty of care and there is, without
doubt, enough evidence to apply
the precautionary principle and
prevent oil contaminating the air
supply with proactive maintenance
and bleed air cleaners and monitors.
The GCAQE calls for all future aircraft
to be designed using bleed free
technology such as that used by the
Boeing 787, for all current
aircraft to be fitted with suitable
filters and detection systems, and
for airlines to service their fleets
with less toxic oils. This court
verdict supports that 60 years of
unfiltered bleed air is no longer
acceptable....
For over 3 decades the
Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman
1.973.696.7900
jon@xxxxxxxxxxx
have been representing injured
workers and their families who have
suffered occupational illnesses.
Author NJ Workers Compensation Law
(West).Related articles:
Joanne Turner, Sick Flight
Attendant, Finally Gets Compensation
For Breating 'Toxic' Cabin Air
(huffingtonpost.com) Medical crew
takes flight, injured out of fight
(waronterrornews.typepad.com) 'Toxic'
cabin air: legal victory for sick
flight attendant (telegraph.co.uk)
Development of Diagnostics in the
Search for an Explanation of Aerotoxic
Syndrome University of NE 4.9.10
The Areotoxic Association
--
Posted By Jon L. Gelman
to Workers' Compensation
at 9/16/2010 09:00:00 AM
.
Other related posts:
- » [net-gold] [Workers' Compensation] Victory for an Aircrew for Breathing Contaminated Air - David P. Dillard
