On August 20, 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released N 8900.88 entitled “Letter Certifying HAZMAT Training for Employees of Part 145 Repair Stations” directing Aviation Safety Inspectors to obtain a letter from all repair stations certifying that the hazardous material (hazmat) employees have been properly trained. While there is no regulation requiring repair stations existing before 2005 to provide this information, ARSA has created a letter that will inform the agency of a repair station’s status as an hazmat employer and if it is, the training status of its employees. The letter may be found here.

The FAA’s notice is a bit confusing since it seems to indicate that even if the repair station is not a hazmat employer, it must obtain verification that its contractors have provided appropriate hazmat training. In 2005, the association petitioned the government to ensure that this misunderstanding would not take place; it requested a clarification to ensure that if the original repair station was not a hazmat employer, then it did not have to verify the compliance of its vendors. In its denial of the petition for rulemaking, the agency assured the association that if the original repair station was not a hazmat employer, it did not have to comply with any of the hazmat requirements, including verification of its contractor’s compliance. We are hopeful that the FAA will clarify that fact to its inspectors before too many “demands” are made on repair stations.

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