VOLUME 6  SURVEILLANCE

CHAPTER 11  OTHER SURVEILLANCE

Section 25  Safety Assurance System: Certificate Holder Food and Beverage Service Cart Safety and Serviceability

6-2755    OBJECTIVE. This section provides specific guidance for aviation safety inspectors (ASI), principal maintenance inspectors (PMI), and principal operations inspectors (POI) with reference to a certificate holder’s food and beverage service cart programs.

6-2756    GENERAL. Certificate holder’s operation, ground servicing, and maintenance programs may not adequately address food and beverage service cart safety and serviceability. Studies have identified food and beverage service carts as the most common source of injury to airline flight attendants (F/A) and a major cause of lost work time. In addition, a sampling by Flight Standards Service (AFS) of carts utilized by Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 121 certificate holders revealed a number of deficiencies, such as lack of required load limit placards, inadequate inspection criteria, and the inability of the certificate holder to track the use and inspection and repair activity of the carts. Certificate holder’s aircraft use two types of food service carts/units. They are:

·    Those that remain onboard the aircraft and are usually only removed during scheduled maintenance checks, sometimes referred to as chiller units; and

·    Those that catering personnel roll on and off the aircraft at designated aircraft catering stations multiple times a day.

6-2757    COORDINATION REQUIREMENTS. This task requires coordination between ASIs, the certificate‑holding district office (CHDO)/certificate management office (CMO), the International Field Office (IFO)/International Field Unit (IFU), and certificate holders/geographic units.

6-2758    REPORTING SYSTEM. Use the Safety Assurance System (SAS) Automation and the associated Data Collection Tools (DCTs).

6-2759    CERTIFICATE HOLDER GALLEY CART PROGRAMS. A certificate holder’s manual must have operations, cabin, ground servicing, and maintenance procedures that ensure the use of serviceable carts on their aircraft. Galley service carts must contain their contents within established limits under all flight and ground loads. As with other aircraft parts and components, certificate holders must maintain approved Technical Standard Order (TSO) food and service beverage carts in a serviceable condition for use on aircraft.

6-2760    PMI/POI ACTION. The PMI/POI must review the certificate holder’s manual and ensure that the manual includes procedures that address:

A.    Cart Discrepancies.

1)    Verify that procedures require discrepancies to be entered in the appropriate logbook (cabin or aircraft) by the appropriate personnel, and that procedures are consistently followed. They include, but are not limited to, inoperative or ineffective brakes, doors that will not latch, defective door safety latches, casters that do not rotate freely, sharp edges, broken or loose handles, etc.

2)    Verify that “Defective Service Cart” tags are available to cabin crew, that procedures are in place to identify and tag service carts with discrepancies, and that unserviceable carts are not to be used.

3)    Verify that log entries (cabin or aircraft) are cleared when the cart is removed from the aircraft for service or repairs.

4)    Verify that the certificate holder has a process and has procedures that ensure that discrepant carts are received into the certificate holder’s receiving inspection/material control system for tracking/traceability purposes.

B.    Manual Procedures for Catering Personnel Actions. The certificate holder’s manual must have procedures that:

1)    Explain how to make catering personnel aware of discrepant carts removed from the aircraft.

2)    Explain how to disposition carts at each certificate holder station that provides catering service for the certificate holder.

3)    Ensure that a defective cart is not loaded on to the aircraft.

C.    Cart Maintenance Program. The certificate holder’s maintenance program must provide for the inspection, repair, and return to service of galley service carts and ensure that:

1)    Discrepant carts are received into the certificate holder’s receiving and inspection/material control system and tracked during inspection, repair, and return to service.

2)    The certificate holder’s quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) functions adequately monitor all phases of cart inspection, repair, and return to service, including quality audits.

3)    The certificate holder’s designee inspects and repairs all carts in accordance with the manufacturer’s service instructions, which may be in the form of an equipment manual or other methods, techniques, or practices acceptable to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

4)    The certificate holder’s designee installs the appropriate serviceable tag.

NOTE:  As a TSO item, an appropriately qualified person must return galley carts to service.

D.    Principal Inspector (PI) Surveillance Activities. PMIs and POIs must include cart inspections in their work programs. This must encompass aircraft equipment during ramp inspections, cabin en route inspections, repair facility inspections, and other required inspections using the associated DCTs in SAS.

6-2761    TASK OUTCOMES.

A.    Utilization. Part 121 and 14 CFR part 135 ASIs will use associated DCTs in SAS automation to document surveillance activities, per SAS guidance in Volume 10.

B.    Compliance. Part 121/135 PIs will:

1)    Ensure that the certificate holder’s procedures are consistent with the guidance and that the certificate holder continues to comply with food and beverage cart procedures in their manual.

2)    Plan and accomplish surveillance activities, per SAS guidance in Volume 10.

6-2762    FUTURE ACTIVITIES. Follow SAS guidance in Volume 10 to plan future surveillance.

RESERVED. Paragraphs 6-2763 through 6-2776.