Safety Inspections

The Federal Aviation Administration said it may order inspections of Boeing 737s pending results of an investigation into a plane crash last month in Indonesia that killed all 104 people on board. ABC "World News Tonight" reported that investigators believe fasteners were missing from the plane's horizontal stabilizer, a rear wing that helps the plane fly level. It said investigators fear the bolts were left out on about 185 Boeing 737s when they were built.

Plagued by one mishap after another, Boeing Co.'s much-heralded 787 Dreamliner passenger jet for the 21st century is feeling new heat from federal regulators. Days after one of the planes caught fire while parked in Boston and another experienced a fuel leak, the Federal Aviation Administration has launched an unusual "comprehensive safety review of Boeing 787 critical systems. " This includes a sweeping evaluation of the way that Boeing designs, manufactures and assembles the aircraft.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will perform a special structural safety inspection of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, which was rocked by last week's magnitude 6.5 earthquake along the Central Coast. No damage was found after inspections by operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and two NRC inspectors on site at the time of the Dec. 22 quake. But the federal agency is sending a structural engineering expert next week to conduct further inspections. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.

WASHINGTON - The former president of a Massey coal mine in West Virginia was charged with conspiracy to violate federal mining safety laws Wednesday, and federal authorities said he was expected to plead guilty in a widening criminal investigation that began after a 2010 explosion killed 29 miners. David C. Hughart, former president of Massey's Green Valley Resource Group, was charged in U.S. District Court in Beckley, W.Va., with a felony on allegations of tipping off mine officials in advance of federal safety inspections.

More than half of the nation's seafood companies aren't following federal food safety rules designed to protect consumers from food-borne illness, according to a report released Tuesday by congressional investigators.

For the third time in four years, the General Accounting Office--the investigative arm of Congress--has found fault with the airline inspection program operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, contending it is so flawed that the welfare of passengers is endangered. One of the most significant problems, the GAO said, is the FAA's lack of follow-up; it has no idea whether recommendations it makes for repairs or replacements are ever undertaken.

The Federal Aviation Administration has had an inadequate system of inspecting the nation's airlines for safety problems and of making sure that violations are corrected, a congressional report says. Some FAA employees have even found themselves under pressure from the airline industry to spend less time making inspections and more time certifying new airlines and operating changes at existing carriers, the report said. The "review . . .

Reacting to a series of explosions, fires and accidents at Mobil's oil refinery in Torrance that have killed three people and injured at least 12, federal safety officials have launched a comprehensive safety inspection of the refinery. The safety inspection, which began this week, will involve three Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors and last four to six weeks, said OSHA Regional Administrator Frank Strasheim.

The Federal Aviation Administration came under sharp attack at a Senate hearing as industry officials and congressional investigators asserted that airline passengers' safety too often depends on poorly trained inspectors and a mismanaged computer system. One FAA inspector, who testified behind a screen out of fear of agency reprisal, said he was trained on commuter planes but was forced to inspect big jets.

Southwest Airlines Co., accused of operating planes that had missed key safety inspections, said Tuesday that it had placed three employees on leave and hired an outside expert to review its maintenance procedures. The Dallas-based airline also said it had promised federal regulators that it would fix any shortcomings in its system of tracking maintenance work. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $10.2-million civil penalty -- the largest ever against an airline -- after finding that Southwest had missed safety inspections for dozens of planes, then kept flying some of them before they could be examined.

Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, has shut down the plant where an explosion Friday killed three workers and injured 15 others. The company said that within a week, it expects to complete a safety inspection of the facility in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu before resuming operations. It said suspending operations for a week would not affect supply of the Apple devices because it has a week's worth of inventory. Preliminary findings suggested that the blast was caused by combustible dust in one of the facility's polishing workshops, the company said in a news release.

A week after a hole ripped open on the fuselage of a Southwest Airlines jet, the carrier's chief executive, Gary C. Kelly, said that all but two inspected planes would be back in the air by Saturday. During a panel discussion at a gathering of financial journalists in Dallas on Friday, Kelly said Southwest had inspected and returned to service 78 planes but was still making repairs on two jets, including the Boeing 737 plane with the damaged fuselage. Southwest canceled more than 600 flights last weekend after a flight from Phoenix to Sacramento suffered a rapid loss of cabin pressure when a hole tore open on the top of the fuselage.

As Southwest Airlines Co. scrambles to find and repair cracks in its older planes, it may have to put off immediate expansion plans to focus on fixing and replacing its aging aircraft, analysts said. But there probably will be no major drop in Southwest's passenger traffic or long-term financial repercussions resulting from Friday's incident because it did not result in severe injuries or deaths and the airline acted quickly to ground its older planes for inspections, industry experts said.

Southwest Airlines said it has completed safety inspections of most of its Boeing 737s and will be "able to launch a full operation on Tuesday," according to a news release by the airline. The airline has been inspecting the 737-300s in its fleet for safety flaws after a large hole popped open Friday in the roof of one of its planes and prompted an emergency landing. The airline's statement late Monday said 64 of the 79 planes scheduled for inspection were checked and back in service.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday fined the American Red Cross $16 million, alleging that the organization had been slipshod in the collection and manufacture of blood products. It was the latest in a string of multimillion-dollar penalties for failure to meet blood safety standards. Despite the most recent violations, there is no indication that patients or the blood supply were endangered, "and the blood supply is believed to be safe," the FDA said in a statement.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean. And the Marshall Islands, a maze of tiny atolls, many smaller than the ill-fated oil rig, outsourced many of its responsibilities to private companies.

They roar through Moorpark every hour, rattling shop windows and the nerves of residents. Hundreds of trucks, dodging a mandatory inspection station on the Ventura Freeway, use California 118 instead as it runs through the city's streets. In the past month, one tractor-trailer lost its brakes and rammed into the back of a car. Another dropped its back axle.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) released a detailed report Friday defending his intervention in a dispute over safety inspections between federal regulators and a friend whose air charter company was involved in a fatal plane crash last year. Prepared by Robert Bauer, Daschle's attorney, the 31-page report attempts to refute allegations that the senator sought to strip the U.S.

As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear this week, it's a good time to ask: Are the toys we're buying any safer than they were a couple of years ago, when millions of playthings were recalled because of high lead levels and other hazards? The world's largest toy manufacturer, El Segundo's Mattel Inc., says yes, as do federal regulators. But after spending a few hours roaming the Toy District in downtown Los Angeles, I'm not so sure. In one shop, I found a package of brightly colored rattles and pacifiers manufactured in China.

Four months after a fatal commuter plane crash that pointed to holes in pilot competency, the federal government Tuesday launched an investigation of the nation's smaller airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration's vow to step up inspections of how regional airlines train -- and work -- their pilots was issued under the pressure of congressional hearings that begin today. The hearings will explore pilot workforce issues at regional carriers and the FAA's scrutiny of airline safety standards.