Flight attendant welcomes Senate report on cabin fumes

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From AAP
13oct00

A FLIGHT attendant suing Ansett over exposure to toxic fumes has welcomed a Senate committee report that found fumes aboard British Aerospace 146 aircraft were making people sick.

Judy Cullinane, 35, has been on unpaid sick leave from Ansett since November 1997 when she fell ill during a five-day stint aboard BAe 146 aircraft.

Ms Cullinane said she became semi-paralysed and was barely able to speak during flights to and from Alice Springs. She said she was forced to stop work because of ongoing medical problems including extreme fatigue and nausea.

The Senate Transport References Committee handed down its report today which found there was no need to ground the 31 BAe-146 aircraft flown by Australian passenger and freight airlines, but recommended mandatory modifications.

The committee called on the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to take the problem of cabin fumes more seriously and introduce regulations for monitoring cabin and cockpit air quality, such as a standard for checking engine seals.

Ms Cullinane said the report vindicated her claim that cabin fumes were causing illnesses.

"What has come out of the Senate is a great step forward for all the flight attendants and pilots Australia-wide who are suffering the same problems," she said.

She said there were at least 15 other flight attendants who had been overcome by fumes in WA alone, 11 of whom were in discussions with lawyers with a view to suing their employers.

Ms Cullinane said doctors had advised her she was likely to suffer ongoing health problems.

"I still have trouble with my memory and my coordination, and I still get very bad nausea, (I get) disoriented and confused," she said.

"It hasn't gone away - the problems I'm suffering now are the problems I suffered from right from the beginning."

Her lawyer Hayden Stephens said the information contained in the Senate report had boosted his client's claim and would be used in the forthcoming court case, expected to be listed for trial within 12 months.

Mr Stephens said Ansett had known about the cabin fumes problem since 1992 but had ignored it.

"In my opinion this report is one of the most important in civil aviation history," he said.

"It raises real alarming questions, questions which we say Ansett and other interested parties must answer."

He said Ms Cullinane's claim was being made on the basis of loss of wages and pain and suffering, and if awarded, damages would be "substantial".

Her claim is a test case for a number of similar claims around Australia.

Ansett said it had been working on the cabin fumes problem for years and the Senate committee report had recognised the work it had put into finding a solution.

"The committee has recognised that Ansett's done more than anyone to address the issue and our 146 aircraft have already undergone significant modifications," a spokesman said.

These included the installation of improved oil filters on 146 engines and auxiliary power units to eliminate the problem of oil leaking into the air-conditioning systems. The air distribution system in the cabins had also been reconfigured to provide better air flow.

He said government laboratories had been used to independently analyse air samples taken by flight attendants mid-flight, and no contaminants had been found that even approached safety thresholds.

The spokesman said Ansett's 12 BAe 146 aircraft were flying safely and there were no plans to ground the fleet.

    see Senate Report

     Download ZIP file (BAe146Fumes.zip - 244 kb) 

        containing all the Parliamentary submissions.