Flight Attendants To Have Safety And Health Protections In the Cabin

AFA-CWA has successfully achieved Occupational Safety and Health protections for commercial aircraft, after tireless advocacy to improve safety and health standards in its members' workplace.

"AFA-CWA looks forward to continuing work with the FAA and OSHA as we finally bring vital safety and health protections to our nation's Flight Attendants. We welcome the opportunity to serve as the voice for Flight Attendants as we close this long overdue loophole," said Veda Shook, AFA-CWA International President. "AFA-CWA Flight Attendants have been forceful advocates for OSHA protections, and appreciate the efforts of FAA and OSHA to ensure safety and health standards for those working inside our nation's aircraft cabins — a change that will also benefit the millions of passengers who travel on commercial flights."

In 1975, the FAA claimed exclusive jurisdiction over workplace safety and health for all crewmembers, preventing OSHA, the agency that regulates the safety and health of most U.S. workers, from protecting Flight Attendants and other crewmembers while working onboard commercial airline flights. AFA-CWA has pursued legal and regulatory solutions to extend OSHA safety and health protections to workers in the airline industry. The new FAA policy announcement comes after AFA-CWA aggressively advocated for Flight Attendant safety and health protections to be included in the FAA reauthorization bill that was signed by President Obama in February 2012.

Flight Attendants currently have OSHA protections at work in places other than where they spend the majority of their time — the passenger cabin. The new policy statement extends many of the OSHA protections already in place to the aircraft cabin.

The FAA/OSHA policy statement can be viewed here:  Policy Statement on Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Aircraft Cabin Crewmembers