Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has raised concerns over findings in an American Medical Association journal that cabin crews suffer high cancer death rates.

Anyone on a plane is subjected to greater levels of cosmic radiation when they fly over 9 kilometres high. Because the Earth’s thinner atmosphere stops less radiation, aircrew can accrue up to 6 millisieverts per year of cosmic radiation.

This is an order of magnitude above that received by an average air traveller taking ten cross-country round-trip flights per year. The normal average annual dose is about 0.34 millisieverts. Radiation-related cancers among air crews are very high compared to the general public. Shift work, jet lag, time zone disruptions also elevate cancer risks. Exposure is particularly significant on long-haul and high-latitude/polar routes.

The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) represents more than 10,000 aviation workers including cabin crew, and it’s raising concerns. The union is calling for a more systematic approach to the problem, rather than leaving it to individual airlines.

The union is linking cancers to workplace occupational health and safety (OH&S), rather than treating it as an individual medical matter.

TWU national secretary, Michael Kaine, says: “If we’re learning that the job of keeping Australians safe in the skies may come with serious health risks, we can’t leave workers to deal with those risks as a scatter-gun approach, airline by airline.”

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) says aircrews are among the groups receiving higher exposure to ionising radiation. Australia has a 20 mSv per year occupational limit averaged over five years. ARPANSA recommends keeping aircrew exposure below 6 mSv annually.

However, participation by airlines in the Australian National Radiation Dose Register is voluntary. ARPANSA says that the studies have not conclusively demonstrated the rates of cancer associated from cosmic radiation alone. It emphasises that lifestyle and occupation also impact cancer levels.

Australian airlines should be required to assess crew radiation exposure and incorporate cumulative exposure into rostering, with additional protections for pregnant workers.

By Graham Holton, CPA, The Guardian