A panel of experts at the Federal Aviation Administration released a report Monday criticizing the safety culture at aircraft manufacturer Boeing, despite the company’s claims of a commitment to safety. The report comes after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, as well as a recent incident when a door plug blew out of the side of an airplane and a years-long history of safety concerns.
The expert panel stated in the report that they could not find evidence of Boeing’s commitment to safety, instead noting that some employees weren’t sure about their place in safety and felt they couldn’t raise safety-related concerns without the risk of retaliation. The report also emphasized that confusion about the safety programs could deter workers from submitting concerns.
“We will carefully review the panel’s assessment and learn from their findings, as we continue our comprehensive efforts to improve our safety and quality programs,” a statement from Boeing said.
The panel comprised FAA officials, as well as representatives from airlines, labor unions and safety units, who conducted more than 250 interviews and reviewed more than 4,000 pages of documents. Although the panel wasn’t investigating a particular safety incident, “on several occasions during the expert panel’s activities, serious quality issues with Boeing products became public,” the report said. “These quality issues amplified the expert panel’s concerns that the safety-related messages or behaviors are not being implemented across the entire Boeing population.”
