Just Culture and Occurrence Reporter Protection
How EASA just culture protects occurrence reporters under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 — Articles 15 and 16, confidentiality, and the limits of protection.
Dionysis Kefalas7 min readFor Part-145, CAMO, Air Ops and training organisation staff
Part 4 of 5 in EASA Occurrence Reporting Show parts
- 1EASA Occurrence Reporting under 376/2014
- 2Mandatory vs Voluntary Occurrence Reporting
- 3How to File an Occurrence Report in 72 Hours
- 4Just Culture and Occurrence Reporter Protection
- 5Occurrence Analysis and Follow-up in the SMS
Quotes checked on against EASA Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting (Regulation (EU) No 376/2014) — 27 Sep 2023 revision.
On this page
A name on the form
A certifying staff member at ExampleMRO writes up a near-miss and then looks at the name on the form. Articles 15 and 16 are the limits on what happens next: what the information may be used for, and what may be done to the people named in it.
(12)‘just culture’ means a culture in which front-line operators or other persons are not punished for actions, omissions or decisions taken by them that are commensurate with their experience and training, but in which gross negligence, wilful violations and destructive acts are not tolerated;
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
That is the regulation's own meaning of just culture. The words for what is not tolerated there are not the words in Article 16(10).
1.This Regulation aims to improve aviation safety by ensuring that relevant safety information relating to civil aviation is reported, collected, stored, protected, exchanged, disseminated and analysed.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
Protection is one aim in that sentence. The limits on use, and on what may be done to people, are Articles 15 and 16.
Confidentiality and appropriate use
Before the question of who is named, the regulation limits where the details go and what the information is for.
1.Member States and organisations, in accordance with their national law, and the Agency shall take the necessary measures to ensure the appropriate confidentiality of the details of occurrences received by them pursuant to Articles 4, 5 and 10.
Each Member State, each organisation established in a Member State, or the Agency shall process personal data only to the extent necessary for the purposes of this Regulation and without prejudice to national legal acts implementing Directive 95/46/EC.
2.Without prejudice to the provisions relating to the protection of safety information in Articles 12, 14 and 15 of Regulation (EU) No 996/2010, information derived from occurrence reports shall be used only for the purpose for which it has been collected.
Member States, the Agency and organisations shall not make available or use the information on occurrences:
(a)in order to attribute blame or liability; or
(b)for any purpose other than the maintenance or improvement of aviation safety.
3.The Commission, the Agency and the competent authorities of the Member States, when discharging their obligations under Article 14 in relation to the information contained in the European Central Repository, shall:
(a)ensure the confidentiality of the information; and
(b)limit the use of the information to what is strictly necessary in order to discharge their safety-related obligations without attributing blame or liability; in this respect, the information shall be used in particular for risk management and for analysis of safety trends which may lead to safety recommendations or actions, addressing actual or potential safety deficiencies.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
At ExampleMRO, a report from the internal scheme is not a disciplinary file. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are the limits on use, including when the information is in the European Central Repository.
Personal details inside the organisation
1.For the purposes of this Article, ‘personal details’ includes in particular names or addresses of natural persons.
2.Each organisation established in a Member State shall ensure that all personal details are made available to staff of that organisation other than persons designated in accordance with Article 6(1) only where absolutely necessary in order to investigate occurrences with a view to enhancing aviation safety.
Disidentified information shall be disseminated within the organisation as appropriate.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
Paragraph 1 is what "personal details" covers. Paragraph 2 is who inside the organisation may see them, and it is not the whole staff.
Reporters and people mentioned in the report
Article 15 limits the use of the information. Article 16 limits what is done to the people.
6.Without prejudice to applicable national criminal law, Member States shall refrain from instituting proceedings in respect of unpremeditated or inadvertent infringements of the law which come to their attention only because they have been reported pursuant to
Articles 4 and 5.
The first subparagraph shall not apply in the cases referred to in paragraph 10. Member States may retain or adopt measures to strengthen the protection of reporters or persons mentioned in occurrence reports. Member States may in particular apply this rule without the exceptions referred to in paragraph 10.
7.If disciplinary or administrative proceedings are instituted under national law, information contained in occurrence reports shall not be used against:
(a)the reporters; or
(b)the persons mentioned in occurrence reports.
The first subparagraph shall not apply in the cases referred to in paragraph 10.
Member States may retain or adopt measures to strengthen the protection of reporters or persons mentioned in occurrence reports. Member States may in particular extend that protection to civil or criminal proceedings.
[…]
9.Except where paragraph 10 applies, employees and contracted personnel who report or are mentioned in occurrence reports collected in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 shall not be subject to any prejudice by their employer or by the organisation for which the services are provided on the basis of the information supplied by the reporter.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
Paragraph 6 stops where paragraph 10 applies. A Member State may apply paragraph 6 without those exceptions. Paragraph 7 is disciplinary and administrative proceedings; extending it to civil or criminal proceedings is something a Member State may do, and the paragraph does not say that every Member State has done so. Paragraph 9, except where paragraph 10 applies, is the rule for the employer and for the organisation the person works for. It covers the reporter and a person who is only mentioned.
Where that protection does not apply
10.The protection under paragraphs 6, 7 and 9 of this Article shall not apply to any of the following situations:
(a)in cases of wilful misconduct;
(b)where there has been a manifest, severe and serious disregard of an obvious risk and profound failure of professional responsibility to take such care as is evidently required in the circumstances, causing foreseeable damage to a person or property, or which seriously compromises the level of aviation safety.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
Point (a) is wilful misconduct. Point (b) is the longer test in the quote, not a shorter label.
The Article 2 definition uses other words for what is not tolerated: gross negligence, wilful violations and destructive acts. Paragraph 10 does not repeat those words. Do not treat point (b) as a shorthand for gross negligence.
A torque value misread, then reported by the person who misread it, is not what point (a) describes. Point (b) is a separate test, and the paragraph does not shorten it.
Internal rules, and where staff can go
11.Each organisation established in a Member State shall, after consulting its staff representatives, adopt internal rules describing how ‘just culture’ principles, in particular the principle referred to in paragraph 9, are guaranteed and implemented within that organisation.
The body designated pursuant to paragraph 12 may ask to review the internal rules of the organisations established in its Member State before those internal rules are implemented.
12.Each Member State shall designate a body responsible for the implementation of paragraphs 6, 9 and 11.
Employees and contracted personnel may report to that body alleged infringements of the rules established by this Article. Employees and contracted personnel shall not be penalised for reporting alleged infringements. Employees and contracted personnel may inform the Commission about such alleged infringements.
Where appropriate, the designated body shall advise the relevant authorities of its Member State concerning remedies or penalties in application of Article 21.
Quoted word for word from Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Easy Access Rules for Occurrence Reporting, 27 Sep 2023 revision.
Paragraph 11 is the organisation. Paragraph 12 is the Member State body staff can go to. Neither paragraph mentions a named panel or the accountable manager's signature.
ExampleMRO's rules are a short document the floor can read. They set the paragraph 10 situations beside the paragraph 9 principle, so a reported torque error is read against both.
A report that is protected and then never analysed changes nothing on the aircraft. The next guide quotes the analysis and follow-up duty: From Occurrence to Action: Analysis and Follow-up in Your SMS.
Educational content, not regulatory compliance advice. Verify against the current regulation text before relying on it.
In this series
Related
- EASA Occurrence Reporting: A Complete Guide for Aviation ProfessionalsGuide · 8 min
- Mandatory vs Voluntary Occurrence Reporting: What You Must ReportGuide · 6 min
- How to File an Occurrence Report: The 72-Hour Deadline and Data QualityGuide · 6 min
- From Occurrence to Action: Analysis and Follow-up in Your SMSGuide · 5 min
Written by Dionysis Kefalas. Retired Hellenic Air Force Captain and founder of Avioverse. About the author
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