Boeing safety culture criticized by FAA in new report

A Federal Aviation Administration report released Monday found flaws in Boeing’s safety culture and noted that the plane maker had made some improvements since two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max 8 plane in 2018 and 2019.

The report, written by a group of experts convened a year ago at the behest of Congress, found that there was a “disconnect” between senior management and other Boeing employees. The company, the panel concluded, has at times been “inadequate and confusing” in the way it carried out its safety culture.

In a statement, the FAA said it would “immediately begin a thorough review of the report” and take action on its recommendations as appropriate.

“We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards and work to ensure the company comprehensively addresses these recommendations,” the agency said.

Boeing said in a statement that it supported the panel’s review and that it had taken “significant steps” to improve its safety culture, although it acknowledged that “there is more work to do.”

Fresh concerns about the company’s safety culture emerged last month after a panel opened on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane during an Alaska Airlines flight. The new FAA report makes no reference to that incident, but the National Transportation Safety Board has said that the panel, known as a door stopper, on the Alaska plane appears to be missing critical bolts to keep it in place. .

The FAA panel issued 53 recommendations, based on a review of thousands of pages of Boeing documents and more than 250 interviews. Recommendations include urging Boeing to better communicate and define the language it uses to reinforce safety and do more to convince employees that their anonymity will be protected when they report concerns or problems.

Internally, Boeing has been encouraging employees to be proactive in protecting safety and other principles valued by the company, urging them to “look, talk and listen.” But the panel concluded that “little or no attention had been paid to searching or listening.”