Japan Airlines (JAL) is vowing to implement new safety improvement measures following the recommendations of outside experts hired in response to a government directive.
The group of independent experts recently submitted a 126-page report that includes a “wide-ranging list of measures and recommendations”, says JAL, which adds that it intends to implement change as quickly as possible.
“The report proposes action in 11 major areas. These include upgrading employee safety awareness, company organisation changes to clarify and simplify chains of command, greater personnel exchange to broaden basic operational knowledge, heightened safety oversight, the systematic use of case studies of safety-related events in employee training and encouraging staff to take the initiative in preventing everyday errors,” says JAL.
“Also emphasised in the report are the links between human error and accidents, the importance of improving the flow of information through good communications and the establishment of a solid corporate safety culture, aiming at the creation of a safety culture of the highest level.”
The advisory committee was made up of five experts from outside the JAL Group, with expertise in the fields of safety, human error analysis, organisational operations and business culture. The committee was set up in August in response to a request in June from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT).
JAL chief executive Toshiyuki Shinmachi says: “We will examine their recommendations carefully, with a view to their implementation by all JAL Group personnel. There is no end to the challenge to secure flight safety.”
JAL has been vowing to improve operations since March, when it received a rare public reprimand from the Japanese government for safety infringements related to flight operations and maintenance, and was issued a “business improvement order” from the MLIT. The action led to management changes and staff reprimands at the airline.
NICHOLAS IONIDES/SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
