A new report by federal safety experts found major problems with Boeing’s safety culture, including a “disconnection” between senior management and other employees and fears of retaliation while reporting safety concerns.
The report, released Monday, was requested by Congress and completed by a panel of experts that convened in March 2023.
The report found “gaps in Boeing’s safety journey” and described the safety culture as “inadequate” and “disturbing”.
While experts did not focus specifically on the Boeing incidents, they examined broader safety standards. Two fatal 737 Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 and issues that have been making headlines for years.
Concerns have been renewed over the door panel of a Boeing-made Alaska Airlines plane. it blew up On January 5, he was forced to make an emergency landing over Portland.
A review of thousands of Boeing documents and more than 250 employee interviews revealed that not all employees understood the company’s safety management systems.
There was also “employee confusion” due to “complex” and constantly changing procedures and training between different workplaces and groups.
The panel also found that the chances of interference or retaliation were “diminished” in the company’s Organizational Designation Authority, a program in which the FAA gives authority to some company employees, but “particularly over wage and leave rankings.”
The report found “reluctance to raise safety concerns for fear of retaliation” because managers could potentially investigate safety reports within their own reporting chain, meaning the process is not entirely impartial.
In addition, the report found that the business unit lacked consistent and clear security reporting channels, and said employees were not always informed of reporting results. The panel was concerned that confusion about reporting systems “could discourage employees from reporting safety concerns.”
The panel also found problems affecting aviation safety, including “inadequate human factors” and a lack of pilot involvement in the design and operation of the aircraft.
In all, the panel listed 27 findings and 53 recommendations, which the FAA said it will thoroughly review.
“We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards and work to ensure that the company fully complies with these recommendations,” the FAA said Monday.
Boeing said it supports the panel’s review.
“We have taken important steps to develop a safety culture that allows and encourages all employees to share their voice. But there is more to do,” the company said. “We will carefully review the panel’s evaluation and learn from their findings as we continue our comprehensive efforts to improve our safety and quality programs.”
Boeing has made several changes since 2019 to improve product safety, including the establishment of an aerospace safety committee in August 2019 and a chief aerospace safety office in January 2021, the introduction of a safety management system in 2019, and a special Organizational Designation in Azerbaijan Establishment of Ombudsman for Authority (ODA) June 2022. ODA “oversees and ensures the consistency of the FAA’s surveillance program.” website.