The report indicates that a survey was carried out by the FAA between May and July discovered that 35% of Boeing employees interviewed said conflicts of interest and a lack of independence prevented safety issues to be reported.
“Boeing’s company culture appears to hamper members of the ODA [Organization Designation Authorization], unit from communicating openly with the FAA,” the FAA said in a letter that was obtained by Bloomberg. The ODA is a special group within Boeing that is authorized to make safety decisions on behalf of authorities and was supposed to maintain an independent operation. The letter went on to say, “These concerns require an objective review and further fact-finding,” it was signed by Ian Won, the acting head of the FAA office which monitors Boeing.
The report advises that the FAA spoke with 32 Boeing employees out of about 1,400 involved in the ODA and around 11 people voiced concerns.
Boeing’s ODA was a central issue in reviews of the 737 MAX crashes by Congress and other outside agencies and investigators. Boeing employees signed off on the MCASsystem which caused the two crashes which lead to the nearly two-year grounding of the 737 MAX.
It was only earlier in 2021 that Boeing agreed to pay $6.6 million in civil penalties to the FAA over safety violations, which included putting “undue pressure” on staff members of the ODA.
Many employees have since voiced concerns over continued safety issues at Boeing, including the debris in fuel tanks of stored 737 MAX jets, fractures in wing mounts, substandard wiring and other issues. The letter from the FAA also included the words of one such employee, confirming that pressure from Boeing was put upon them - “Yea, that happens all the time from design engineering. They don’t listen and keep pushing,”
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