Aviation safety panel finds Boeing culture included safety ‘gaps,’ fear of retaliation

Some Boeing employees did not understand their role in safety and feared retaliation for raising safety-related concerns, a report by federal regulators found Monday.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a report Monday sharply critical of the safety culture at Boeing, following two fatal crashes and several years of safety and quality issues at the troubled aircraft maker. Despite Boeing’s repreated claims of its commitment to safety procedures, the report by a panel of industry experts said it did not find “objective evidence of a foundational commitment to safety that matched Boeing’s descriptions of that objective.” Some Boeing employees did not understand their role in safety and feared retaliation for raising safety-related concerns, according to the report by federal safety experts. The panel, created after fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, but before the recent incident in which a door plug blew out the side of an aircraft, found “gaps in Boeing’s safety journey.” It also identified “hesitation in reporting safety concerns for fear of retaliation” because of management conflicts of interest, and said confusion about the safety programs “may discourage employees from submitting safety concerns.” Boeing said in a statement to CNN that it has “taken important steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to share their voice. But there is more work to do.”