Officials at the US Department of Transportation, parent to the Federal Aviation Administration, moved quickly to pull controllers apparently guilty of a heinous act - nodding off on late-night shifts - from their consoles, to appease a public seeking humans to blame.
Investigations are ongoing, but minds have been made up, judging by the number of controllers removed and the exit of senior FAA official Hank Krakowski.
The DoT's raison d'être is to address swiftly any issue that endangers the flying public. But the agency styles itself proactive rather than reactive - promoting safety management systems based on voluntary reporting.
With voluntary reporting, employees who make a mistake that is not deliberate will generally be protected from action as long as they notify the error in a reasonable amount of time. The DoT says it is rolling out the practice across all sectors. It wants workers to feel protected when reporting mistakes, as a transgression can be forgiven at least once for the greater good of all.
However, it now appears that the protection does not apply when high-profile incidents require scapegoats. At an event in Washington DC, the DoT's second-in-command restated his boss's view that the acts were "outrageous" but went further: "We are not worried about the legal niceties of the personnel process. We are taking action..." Now there's an administration any employee pondering a voluntary report is sure to trust.
Source: Flight International
