From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Changes to FAA's Aviation Safety Enforcement Policies Description: Air travel in the U.S. is one of the safest in the world. The Federal Aviation Administration--or FAA--helps ensure that safety by enforcing standards for air carriers, pilots, airports, and other parts of the aviation system. However, recent events have raised questions about the effectiveness of FAA's enforcement efforts. We talked with GAO's Heather Krause to learn more. Related GAO Work: GAO-20-642, Aviation Safety: Actions Needed to Evaluate Changes to FAA's Enforcement Policy on Safety Standards Released: August 2020 [Intro Music] [Heather Krause:] They have established some goals for the compliance program, but they haven't taken steps to evaluate or determine if the program is accomplishing these goals. [Music] [Holly Hobbs:] Hi, and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Holly Hobbs. Air travel in the U.S. is one of the safest in the world. The Federal Aviation Administration--or FAA--helps ensure that safety by enforcing standards for air carriers, pilots, airports, and other parts of the aviation system. However, recent events have raised questions about the effectiveness of FAA's enforcement efforts. Today, we talk to Heather Krause--an expert in aviation, and a director in our Physical Infrastructure Team--about her recent review of FAA's enforcement efforts. Thank you for joining us, Heather. [Heather Krause:] Thank you. [Holly Hobbs:] So Heather, what events led to our review of FAA's oversight and enforcement of air safety? [Heather Krause:] So around the time that Congress requested us to look at FAA's safety oversight, there were some reports of incidents at airlines that were raising questions about the effectiveness of that approach. As an example, there were some reports of FAA allowing an airline to continue to operate aircraft for nearly 2 years when many of those aircraft were out of compliance with weight and balance regulations. Back in 2015, FAA had moved to change its enforcement policy through what it called the compliance program. What it does for FAA is emphasizes a problem solving approach to examining and addressing violations of safety in terms of laws and regulations and violations to safety standards. And it also emphasizes collaboration and the use of compliance actions, which include training and counseling to address violations. [Holly Hobbs:] Your report discusses FAA's new, or new in 2015, compliance program. What's new about it? [Heather Krause:] The compliance program is part of a shift that FAA made to a more proactive and risk-based oversight approach. At a basic level, FAA's approach focuses more on using training, counseling or other compliance actions to address safety violations. This is a shift from its previous approach, which was more focused than using enforcement actions such as civil penalties or fines to address safety violations. Their intent with the program is to identify and correct violations as effectively, quickly, and efficiently as possible, and it has set some goals for the program that are to promote the highest level of safety and compliance with regulatory standards, as well as foster an open and transparent exchange of data. [Holly Hobbs:] So, what did we find about FAA's efforts? [Heather Krause:] Following the implementation, FAA had revised it agency-wide guidance to emphasize these compliance actions. What that did was directed inspectors to use compliance actions when a regulated entity such as an air carrier pilot or other entity is willing and able to comply and enforcement actions aren't warranted or required. What had resulted then as the implementation of the program proceeded is we found that FAA is increasingly using compliance actions rather than enforcement actions to address safety violations. However, no specific FAA office or entity is overseeing the compliance program. They had tasked a working group to lead some of the initial implementation efforts, but that group is no longer regularly discussing the program, and no office or entity has been assigned authority. And without that central authority to oversee the program, FAA lacks some control to ensure the compliance program is working as intended. In addition, they've established some goals for the compliance program, but they haven't taken steps to evaluate or determine if the program is accomplishing these goals. Such efforts could really help in strengthening the implementation in knowing whether the compliance program is improving safety, or having other effects intended or unintended. [Music] [Holly Hobbs:] So, it sounds like FAA has implemented this new compliance program that is meant to address safety violations more efficiently, but that there are still some concerns about that effort. Heather, did we make any recommendations to FAA that would improve its oversight and enforcement efforts? [Heather Krause:] Yes, we made three recommendations to FAA. Those recommendations include assigning authority within the agency to oversee the compliance program, collecting and analyzing data to monitor the use of the program, and finally to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in meeting the goal. We think these recommendations will strengthen FAA?s safety oversight of the industry. [Holly Hobbs:] And Heather, last question, what's the bottom line of this report? [Heather Krause:] FAA views the compliance program as a necessary step to evolve the oversight of aviation safety. Given the central role the compliance program plays in supporting FAA's safety mission, it really is critical for FAA to determine whether this approach is working as intended in improving aviation safety. Assigning a central authority within the agency to oversee the use of the program and evaluate its effectiveness is important in making that assessment. [Music] [Holly Hobbs:] That was Heather Krause talking about GAO's recent report on FAA's air safety enforcement efforts. Thank you for your time Heather. [Heather Krause:] Thank you. [Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. And make sure you leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov.