The Office of Inspector General Says FAA Needs To Improve Oversight Of Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program
The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released a report recommending that the FAA improve its voluntary disclosure reporting program. The report, which was issued in response to a mandate in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, found that while the FAA has made progress in ensuring that air carrier reports meet the program’s requirements, the agency remains unaware about the root causes of the reported violations.
OIG noted that the FAA does not require carriers to identify or document the root cause of a violation when they submit a report. Likewise, OIG found that the FAA does not verify that air carriers have fully implemented corrective actions or whether such actions adequately resolve the reported problems. Further, the report explains that the FAA fails to effectively collect trend data from the voluntary reporting program, meaning that the FAA is unable to identify safety risks on a national level.
The report makes eight recommendations to improve the voluntary disclosure reporting program. It also requests that the FAA respond in writing to the report within thirty days. The full report can be accessed here.
