Huerta Unveils New FAA Safety Strategy
The FAA has developed a new “compliance philosophy” to promote safety that “challenges the status quo,” the FAA said in a news release on Tuesday. “The Compliance Philosophy is the latest step in the evolution of how we work with those we regulate,” said Administrator Michael Huerta, at a Flight Safety Foundation event in Washington, D.C. “It focuses on the most fundamental goal: find problems in the National Airspace System before they result in an incident or accident, use the most appropriate tools to fix those problems, and monitor the situation to ensure that they stay fixed.”
The FAA has developed a new "compliance philosophy" to promote safety that "challenges the status quo," the FAA said in a news release on Tuesday. "The Compliance Philosophy is the latest step in the evolution of how we work with those we regulate," said Administrator Michael Huerta, at a Flight Safety Foundation event in Washington, D.C. "It focuses on the most fundamental goal: find problems in the National Airspace System before they result in an incident or accident, use the most appropriate tools to fix those problems, and monitor the situation to ensure that they stay fixed. The Compliance Philosophy recognizes that … most operators voluntarily comply with both the rules and the core principles of a Safety Management System. … So, in cases where a deviation results from factors such as flawed procedures, simple mistakes, lack of understanding, or diminished skills, we use tools like training or documented improvements to procedures to ensure compliance."
The new policy aims to prevent operators from hiding inadvertent mistakes because they're afraid of punishment, the FAA said. "Based on cooperation and trust, it encourages an open and transparent exchange of information and data between the FAA and industry," says the news release. The new policy is derived from the work of the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), which the FAA says reduced the risk in commercial aviation by 83 percent over 10 years. "The FAA's Compliance Philosophy helps the FAA and industry to use critical thinking to work smarter and more efficiently to get to the bottom of potential safety problems," said Huerta. "It's about finding a problem, fixing a problem, and making sure it stays fixed." Huerta stressed that the FAA will continue to have zero tolerance for intentional reckless behavior, inappropriate risk-taking, repeat failures, falsification, failure to fulfill commitments, or deviation from regulatory standards. The FAA will continue to vigorously pursue enforcement action in these circumstances, he said.
