The panel of experts said Boeing has made changes that have reduced the chance of retaliation against employees who report safety problems. It added, however, that “the restructuring, while better, still allows opportunities for retaliation to occur.”
Boeing has a huge backlog of orders from airlines that are eager to get new, more fuel-efficient planes. The company has increased the rate at which it produces 737s to 38 per month.
Critics including Ed Pierson, a former senior manager on the 737 program and now director of a nonprofit safety foundation, have long complained about pressure on Boeing employees not to slow down the assembly line by pointing to potential problems.
“There is a culture where employees on the front lines are learning to keep their mouths shut because a fear … something could happen to them,” Pierson said in a recent interview. “The pressure is, ‘Move the plane down the line, move the plane down the line.’ It’s not, ‘Stop, let’s fix it, let’s do it right.’”
CEO David Calhoun urged employees in a message last month to speak up.
“Our people on the factory floor know what we must do to improve better than anyone. We should … always encourage any team member who raises issues that need to be addressed,” Calhoun said. After the Alaska Airlines blowout, he vowed that Boeing will take its time to do the job right.
The experts on the panel said Congress didn’t tell them to investigate specific incidents or accidents, but they noted that during their work, “serious quality issues with Boeing products became public.” Those events amplified their concerns that safety-related practices “are not being implemented across the entire Boeing population.”
The panel made 50 recommendations to Boeing, including coming up with a plan to address the experts’ concerns within six months and give that plan to the FAA. The panel made three recommendations to the FAA.
The FAA said, “We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest standard of safety and will work to ensure the company comprehensively addresses these recommendations.”