FAA ISSUES COMPLIANCE PHILOSOPHY DE-EMPHASIZING ENFORCEMENT

November 12, 2015

On October 15, 2015, Administrator Michael Huerta announced a new FAA “Compliance Philosophy” that aims to de-emphasize enforcement as a means of ensuring compliance in favor of a more collaborative approach that is intended to identify and resolve problems before they result in an accident. 

The new policy recognizes that “most operators voluntarily comply with both the rules and the core principles” and that even the most compliance-oriented operators will make unintentional errors.  The agency will now rely to a greater extent on training or documented improvements to the extent a deviation from the rules results from flawed procedures, simple mistakes, a lack of understanding, or diminished skills.  “We don’t want operators who might inadvertently make a mistake to hide it because they have a fear of being punished …. [i]f there is a failing, whether human or mechanical, we need to know about it, to learn from it and make the changes necessary to prevent it from happening again.”

Huerta emphasized that FAA will continue to have a zero-tolerance policy for intentionally reckless behavior and inappropriate risk taking and will take enforcement action in cases of “willful or flagrant violations, or for refusal to cooperate in corrective action.”  The FAA will train all employees on the new Compliance Policy, will use “data, not calendar dates” to guide its surveillance and inspection programs, and has emphasized to its inspectors that they must work with operators to identify risks and the most appropriate tools needed to permanently fix the problems.

If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com, 202-659-6665).

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