spacetoday.net: Survey reveals NASA workers still reticent to speak up

Posted: Tue, Apr 13, 2004, 8:13 PM ET (0013 GMT)
NASA

A survey of NASA employees released this week revealed that, more than a year after the Columbia accident, many employees are still concerned about speaking out about safety issues. The report, prepared by an outside company, Behavioral Science Technology, found that there are "pockets" within the agency where managers, deliberately or inadvertently, left impressions with their workers that raising issues is unwelcome, This is a particular concern for NASA because the investigation into the Columbia accident found evidence of an agency "culture" where bringing safety concerns up with supervisors was not always welcome. NASA officials said Tuesday that they plan to implement reforms starting at selected NASA centers to make it clear that employees should speak out on safety concerns, and will not be punished if they do.