Boeing ( BA ) Co shares are trading lower on Friday. The company witnessed a remarkable surge in safety concerns raised by its employees in the initial months of 2024.

The spike followed a serious incident on January 5 involving a mid-air cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Air ( ALK ) Group Inc 737 MAX 9, the company revealed in its annual safety report.

Since the 737-9 accident in January, the company redoubled its efforts to encourage employees to raise concerns about product and services safety, quality and compliance.

The result was a more than 500% upsurge in Speak Up reporting channel submissions in early 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Following the blowout on the Alaska Airlines flight, an expert panel evaluating Boeing’s safety management practices identified a disconnect between the company’s senior management and its employees regarding safety culture, Reuters reported.

The company said it expanded the use of external safety data sources and worked with the FAA to develop machine-learning algorithms to identify emerging hazards and safety trends.

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“Our actions are focused on making further improvements to ensure safety, compliance and conformance of our products and services, without compromise,” stated Boeing’s Chief Aerospace Safety Officer, Mike Delaney.

As a consequence of the January incident, U.S. regulators have decided to restrict production levels of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets. 

Boeing ( BA ) stock has lost more than 14% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via IShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ( ITA ) and Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF ( PPA ) .

Price Action: BA shares are trading lower by 0.64% at $171.11 at the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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