MONTREAL, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Boeing’s safety chief said on Tuesday the company needs to stay close to workers on the factory floor to keep the exchange of difficult safety information flowing, at a time when the US planemaker is increasing output of key commercial jet models.
“As we’re growing and scaling, staying close to the work, I think that’s really important,” Don Ruhmann, Boeing’s chief aerospace safety officer, told a Montreal conference.
Ruhmann told the International Aviation Safety Summit that 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.”
The event, which has a focus on whether aviation is ready to scale safely, comes as planemakers are ramping up production of new aircraft with airline trade group IATA expecting global air travel to more than double by 2050, despite current headwinds due to 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 Monday, the planemaker’s commercial division said it would cut 5% of its workforce to match a more gradual increase in output.
Ruhmann 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.”
(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
