Cabin Air Safety Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1293 To improve the safety of the air supply on aircraft, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 1, 2023 Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra- structure A BILL To improve the safety of the air supply on aircraft, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cabin Air Safety Act 4 of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SAFETY OF THE AIR SUP- 6 PLY ON AIRCRAFT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart III of part A of subtitle 8 VII of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 9 at the end the following new chapter: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1293 IH ‘‘CHAPTER 454—CABIN AIR QUALITY AND 1 SAFETY 2 ‘‘§ 45401. Definition of Administrator 3 ‘‘In this chapter the term ‘Administrator’ means the 4 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. 5 ‘‘§ 45402. Training to respond to smoke or fume inci- 6 dents on aircraft 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 8 the date of the enactment of this section, the Adminis- 9 trator shall promulgate regulations requiring flight attend- 10 ants, pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians, and airport 11 first responders and emergency response teams to receive 12 training, not less frequently than annually, on how to re- 13 spond to incidents on board aircraft involving smoke or 14 fumes. 15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The training required by sub- 16 section (a) shall include the dissemination of educational 17 materials with respect to the following: 18 ‘‘(1) Sources and types of smoke and fumes on 19 board aircraft. 20 ‘‘(2) Odor and visual descriptors to allow an in- 21 dividual to recognize the presence of engine oil and 22 hydraulic fluid fumes and other potentially haz- 23 ardous fumes, such as fumes relating to engine ex- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1293 IH haust, ground service vehicle exhaust, fuel, de-icing 1 fluid, electrical failures, and ozone. 2 ‘‘(3) The potential for acute or chronic impair- 3 ment to an individual relating to such fumes. 4 ‘‘(4) Procedures for recognizing and responding 5 to smoke and fumes on board aircraft. 6 ‘‘(5) An overview of the system for reporting in- 7 cidents of smoke or fumes on board aircraft estab- 8 lished under section 45403(a)(2). 9 ‘‘(6) Requirements relating to reporting inci- 10 dents of smoke and fumes on board aircraft to the 11 Administrator under sections 45403 and 45405(b). 12 ‘‘§ 45403. Reporting of incidents of smoke or fumes on 13 board aircraft 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 15 the date of the enactment of this section, the Adminis- 16 trator shall— 17 ‘‘(1) develop a standardized form for flight at- 18 tendants, pilots, and aircraft maintenance techni- 19 cians to report incidents of smoke or fumes on board 20 an aircraft operated by an air carrier; and 21 ‘‘(2) establish a system for reporting incidents 22 of smoke or fumes on board aircraft that allows— 23 ‘‘(A) pilots, flight attendants, and aircraft 24 maintenance technicians to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1293 IH ‘‘(i) submit the form developed under 1 paragraph (1) to the Administrator and 2 the relevant air carrier; and 3 ‘‘(ii) receive a copy of such submission 4 for their records; and 5 ‘‘(B) pilots, flight attendants, aircraft 6 maintenance technicians, the collective bar- 7 gaining representative of employees of the air 8 carrier, and air carriers to search the reported 9 incidents database compiled by the Adminis- 10 trator for the purposes of reviewing and moni- 11 toring incidents contained in the database and 12 assisting with investigations conducted under 13 section 45404. 14 ‘‘(b) CONTENT OF FORMS.—The form developed 15 under subsection (a)(1) for reporting an incident of smoke 16 or fumes on board an aircraft shall include sections for 17 the following information, if available at the time of the 18 report: 19 ‘‘(1) Identification of the flight number, the city 20 pair, the type of aircraft, the registration number of 21 the aircraft, and the individual reporting the inci- 22 dent. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1293 IH ‘‘(2) Information about the presence of smoke, 1 including a description of the nature, intensity, and 2 visual consistency (if any). 3 ‘‘(3) Information about the presence of fumes, 4 including a description of the nature and intensity of 5 the odor. 6 ‘‘(4) Information about the location of the 7 smoke or fumes in the aircraft. 8 ‘‘(5) Information about the source of the smoke 9 or fumes, including in relation to the air supply 10 vents and electrical system. 11 ‘‘(6) Information about the type of smoke or 12 fumes. 13 ‘‘(7) Information about the engine manufac- 14 turer, engine type, the engine serial number, and the 15 age of the engine. 16 ‘‘(8) Information about— 17 ‘‘(A) the phase of flight during which 18 smoke or fumes were present; 19 ‘‘(B) the estimated duration of the smoke 20 or fumes; and 21 ‘‘(C) if the incident happened while the 22 aircraft was on the ground, information about 23 the air supply source at the time of the inci- 24 dent. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1293 IH ‘‘(9) Other observations about the smoke or 1 fumes. 2 ‘‘(10) A description of symptoms reported by 3 crew members and passengers and any required on- 4 board medical attention. 5 ‘‘(11) Information with respect to whether crew 6 members or passengers used, needed, or were admin- 7 istered supplemental or emergency oxygen. 8 ‘‘(12) Information regarding any disruption to 9 the operation of the flight or subsequent flights. 10 ‘‘(13) Information about relevant maintenance 11 work conducted on the aircraft prior to and fol- 12 lowing the incident. 13 ‘‘(14) Relevant air monitoring data collected 14 during the flight. 15 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF SMOKE AND FUME 16 EVENT INFORMATION.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 18 quarterly and subject to paragraph (2), the Adminis- 19 trator shall compile, and make available to the pub- 20 lic, statistics regarding the information obtained 21 from the forms developed under subsection (a)(1) 22 and submitted to the Administrator. 23 ‘‘(2) WEBSITE.—The Administrator shall de- 24 velop a publicly available internet website that in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1293 IH cludes the aggregate data required under paragraph 1 (1) and a searchable database for the events re- 2 ported to the Administrator under subsection (a)(2) 3 that includes the following variables for each event: 4 ‘‘(A) Date. 5 ‘‘(B) Tail number. 6 ‘‘(C) Aircraft type. 7 ‘‘(D) Air carrier. 8 ‘‘(E) Phase of flight. 9 ‘‘(F) Location of smoke or fumes in the 10 aircraft. 11 ‘‘(G) Description of smoke or fumes, in- 12 cluding relation to air supply vents and the na- 13 ture and intensity of the odor. 14 ‘‘(H) Engine or auxiliary power unit type. 15 ‘‘(I) Engine oil or hydraulic fluid type, in- 16 cluding product name. 17 ‘‘(J) Deidentified narrative. 18 ‘‘(K) Relevant maintenance information. 19 ‘‘(L) Such other criteria as the Adminis- 20 trator considers appropriate. 21 ‘‘(3) REDACTION.—Before making either indi- 22 vidual event information or aggregate data available 23 to the public under paragraph (1) or (2), the Admin- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1293 IH istrator shall redact any personally identifiable infor- 1 mation. 2 ‘‘§ 45404. Investigations 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 4 the date of the enactment of this section, the Adminis- 5 trator shall promulgate regulations— 6 ‘‘(1) authorizing the Federal Aviation Adminis- 7 tration to, at their discretion, conduct an investiga- 8 tion described in subsection (b) not less than 7 days 9 after a report is submitted to the Administrator 10 through the system for reporting incidents of smoke 11 or fumes on board aircraft established under section 12 45403(a)(2); and 13 ‘‘(2) requiring the Federal Aviation Administra- 14 tion to conduct an investigation described in sub- 15 section (b) when the report indicates that 1 or more 16 crew members or passengers had symptoms that re- 17 quired medical attention. 18 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR INVESTIGATIONS.—An in- 19 vestigation described in this subsection shall include the 20 following: 21 ‘‘(1) Gathering factual and standardized infor- 22 mation from all flight attendants, pilots, aircraft 23 maintenance technicians, airport first responders, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1293 IH emergency response teams, and medical doctors in- 1 volved in the incident. 2 ‘‘(2) Gathering any reports submitted under 3 section 45403 with respect to the incident. 4 ‘‘(3) Gathering technical findings on any re- 5 placed, worn, missing, failed, or improperly serviced 6 components that may have resulted in the incident. 7 ‘‘(4) Identifying the cause of the incident, if 8 possible. 9 ‘‘(c) PARTICIPATION OF AIR CARRIERS AND COLLEC- 10 TIVE BARGAINING REPRESENTATIVES.—In conducting an 11 investigation under this section, the Federal Aviation Ad- 12 ministration shall— 13 ‘‘(1) consult with the air carrier involved; 14 ‘‘(2) work in conjunction with the technical rep- 15 resentatives of the air carrier; and 16 ‘‘(3) invite the participation of the collective 17 bargaining representative of employees of the air 18 carrier. 19 ‘‘§ 45405. Air quality monitoring equipment 20 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE ON AIRCRAFT.— 21 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 22 of this section, the Administrator shall promulgate regula- 23 tions requiring an air carrier, after 90 days for public 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1293 IH comment and not later than 1 year after the regulations 1 are finalized in the Federal Register— 2 ‘‘(1) to install and operate onboard detectors 3 and other air quality monitoring equipment that— 4 ‘‘(A) are situated in the air supply system 5 to enable pilots and maintenance technicians to 6 identify the location of the source or sources of 7 air supply contamination in real time, including 8 any concentration of carbon monoxide that is 9 dangerous to human health; 10 ‘‘(B) continuously monitor any relevant 11 marker compound consistent with engine oil 12 and hydraulic fluid fume concentration in the 13 aircraft cabin and air supply system; and 14 ‘‘(C) alert the pilot and flight attendants 15 to poor air quality that is dangerous to human 16 health; and 17 ‘‘(2) to have in place procedures to train the pi- 18 lots to initiate standardized communication and 19 source isolation protocols, as soon as appropriate, 20 with the flight attendants and air traffic controllers 21 (as needed), and to apply their professional judge- 22 ment based on onboard conditions, all in response to 23 poor air quality that is dangerous to human health. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1293 IH ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY OF THE ADMINISTRATOR.—The Ad- 1 ministrator may establish standards for aircraft cabin air 2 quality, as the Administrator determines is necessary to 3 protect the health and safety of air carrier crew members 4 and passengers, in consultation with— 5 ‘‘(1) the Director of the National Institute for 6 Occupational Safety and Health of the Centers for 7 Disease Control and Prevention; 8 ‘‘(2) the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occu- 9 pational Safety and Health; and 10 ‘‘(3) the Administrator of the Environmental 11 Protection Agency. 12 ‘‘(c) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO AIR 13 QUALITY MONITORING EQUIPMENT IN AIRCRAFT MANU- 14 ALS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact- 15 ment of this section, the Administrator shall promulgate 16 regulations requiring an aircraft manufacturer that manu- 17 factures aircraft for air carriers to include procedures for 18 responding to alarms from air quality monitoring equip- 19 ment required under subsection (a) during normal and 20 nonstandard operations in the flight operator’s manual for 21 each such aircraft produced by the manufacturer. 22 ‘‘(d) CONTINUING RESEARCH TO DEVELOP SENSORS 23 AND TECHNIQUES TO MONITOR CABIN AIR QUALITY.— 24 The Administrator shall continue to research, study, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1293.IH H1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1293 IH identify emerging technologies suitable to provide reliable 1 warning of cabin air contamination from an aircraft bleed 2 air system, including through investigation and research 3 into specific sensors, methods, and operational techniques 4 to prevent poor air quality that is dangerous to human 5 health. 6 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 7 tion may be construed to imply that an investigation under 8 section 45404 is not necessary or that crew members and 9 passengers have not been exposed to smoke or fumes if 10 the alarm from any air quality monitoring equipment in- 11 stalled on an aircraft is not activated. 12 ‘‘§ 45406. Minimum equipment list for bleed air sys- 13 tem 14 ‘‘Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- 15 ment of this section, the Administrator shall promulgate 16 regulations requiring any manufacturer of aircraft that 17 transports passengers or cargo to include the air quality 18 monitoring equipment required under section 45405 in the 19 master minimum equipment list for aircraft with a bleed 20 air system certified under section 44704 or for [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]