Key facts
- Ruhmann said relying only on dashboards and reports can leave a company disconnected from where hard safety information first surfaces.
- Ruhmann said employees need to feel their concerns are heard, respected and protected so that information keeps flowing.
- Boeing said it has taken steps to improve its safety culture, which came under scrutiny in 2024 after a door plug blew off a nearly new 737 MAX.
- Boeing is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to raise 737 MAX production rates and has faced separate factory and supply chain challenges.
- The summit focused on whether aviation is ready to scale safely; IATA expects global air travel to more than double by 2050.
Boeing's chief aerospace safety officer, Don Ruhmann, said on November 10 that the planemaker needs to stay close to workers on the factory floor to keep the exchange of difficult safety information flowing, as the company increases output of key commercial jet models.
Speaking at the International Aviation Safety Summit in Montreal, Ruhmann said relying solely on dashboards and reports for safety information "is where you might get disconnected, because being at work and present on the floor is usually where the hard information surfaces first, and where people get to talk about it for the first time."
He said employees need to feel they can trust the system to come forward. "If they feel like their concern was heard, they were respected and also protected, and I emphasize protected, they will do that over and over and over again, so the information keeps flowing."
The conference, which focuses on whether aviation is ready to scale safely, comes as planemakers ramp up production of new aircraft. Airline trade group IATA expects global air travel to more than double by 2050, despite current headwinds from high jet-fuel prices.
Boeing said it has taken steps to improve its safety culture, which came under scrutiny in 2024 when a door plug blew off a nearly new 737 MAX, and after two earlier crashes of that jet model. The planemaker is working with US regulator the Federal Aviation Administration to raise 737 MAX production rates, but has faced separate challenges within its factories and supply chains.
On November 9, Boeing's commercial division said it would cut 5% of its workforce to match a more gradual increase in output.