[ad_1]
February 26, 2024, © Leeham News: A Congressionally mandated Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA) safety review study was released this morning. The 50-page report by a committee appointed by the Federal Aviation Administration found serious flaws in Boeing’s safety culture despite years of attempts to improve it.
LNA is still absorbing the study, which can be downloaded here: Boeing Safety Study by FAA Panel 2-26-24
The executive summary is summarized below.
Related Posts
Executive Summary
- The Expert Panel noted a disconnect between Boeing’s senior management and other members of the organization on safety culture. Interviewees, including members of the ODA Unit (UM), also questioned whether Boeing’s safety reporting systems would operate in a way that ensured open, non-retaliation communication. The Expert Panel also noted inadequate and confusing implementation of the five components of a positive safety culture (reporting culture, fair culture, flexible culture, learning culture and informed culture).
- The Expert Panel found that Boeing’s SMS procedures reflect the SMS frameworks of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the FAA. However, Boeing’s SMS procedures are not structured in a way to ensure that all employees understand their role in the company’s SMS. Procedures and training are complex and in a constant state of change, creating employee confusion, especially between different workplaces and employee groups. The Expert Panel also found a lack of awareness of security-related metrics at all levels of the organization; employees had difficulty distinguishing the differences between the various measurement methods, their purpose and results.
- Boeing’s restructuring of AOD unit management decreased opportunities for interference and retaliation against UMs and provides effective organizational messages about UM independence. However, restructuring, while better, still allows for opportunities for retaliation, particularly regarding salaries and leave classifications. This influences the ability of UMs to execute their delegated functions effectively.
- The Expert Panel also found additional problems at Boeing affecting aviation safety, including inadequate consideration of human factors proportional to their importance to aviation safety and lack of pilot involvement in the design and
Failure to implement security procedures.
The panel was not instructed to “investigate specific aircraft incidents or accidents, or to make recommendations regarding a specific aircraft incident or accident, that occurred before or during the work of the Expert Panel,” the Executive Summary continues. “However, on several occasions during the Expert Panel activities, serious quality problems with Boeing products became public. “These quality issues amplified the Expert Panel’s concerns that safety-related messages or behaviors are not being implemented across the entire Boeing population.”
More reports coming soon.
Update:
A Boeing official responded: “We transparently support the panel’s review and appreciate their work. We have taken important steps to foster a culture of safety that empowers and encourages all employees to share their voice. But there is more work to do. “We will carefully review the panel’s assessment and learn from its findings, as we continue our comprehensive efforts to improve our safety and quality programs.”
Additional comments from Boeing will appear in tomorrow’s bulletin. LNA mail.
SPEEA, the engineers and technicians union and member of the Panel of Experts, issued its own statement:
“SPEEA welcomes the report and believes it can be a catalyst for positive change at Boeing.
“Our members have long reported a disconnect between the messages they receive from Boeing headquarters in Chicago or Virginia and the messages they receive from their direct supervisors here,” said SPEEA Director of Strategic Development Rich Plunkett. “Quality and safety should be Boeing Co.’s core values, embraced by all, but the report reflects the reality that people who see something are afraid to say something for fear of jeopardizing their careers.
“Our union has proposed an Aviation Safety Action Program, in partnership with Boeing and the FAA, that would allow our members to come forward without fear of retaliation whenever they spot a production or design error, or make one themselves. “Plunkett said.
“We hope that Boeing will accept our proposed program so that together we can work to restore Boeing’s reputation for quality that generations of SPEEA members worked so hard to achieve.”
Related