- Before
- Starts the day with seventy overnight reports to read, code, score and route by hand, then chases owners by email.
- Now
- Opens the 13 that need her with the agents' reasons and sources beside each one, settles disagreements with a reason code and signs.
One cabin smoke report, from the reporter's words to its owners
On Corvane Airways flight CV 66 from San Francisco to Tokyo, a purser smelled burning electrical insulation at aft galley oven 3 of the 787-9 N834CV. She filed a confidential cabin safety report from Narita. Here is how Dana Whitfield, a safety analyst in Corporate Safety, works it with the agents the next morning, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 01Morning
The overnight reports, already read
Dana Whitfield · Safety AnalystDana's Today screen says the agents read 71 reports overnight: 13 need her, 58 are ready to confirm with both readers agreeing, and 5 notices are open, the nearest the OSHA clock for a ramp injury at Denver, due today 15:10 MT. Each report that needs her shows the agents' reason first: “High · three events on one oven · FAA notice likely.” She can ask the agents about any report, aircraft, station or rule from the same screen.
“8 more on the tray · 953 reports this month, 99.2% routed the same day.”
- 02One signature
Fifty-eight Low reports, confirmed together
Dana Whitfield · Safety AnalystThe 58 Low reports where both readers agree on every field, and none needs a notice, wait off the tray. Dana reads a sample of five, sees where all 58 will go — Ground Safety 19, Technical Operations 14, Cabin Safety 10 and the rest — and confirms them with one signature. Every report is still logged one by one.
“I have read the sample and confirm all 58; thank-you notes go to the reporters.”
- 03The tray
SR-2026-18342 comes up, read and summarized
The agentsThe report opens in the middle of the tray with a two-line summary Dana can have read aloud, and the reporter's own words below it; her identity is held by Safety. The Report Reader has found a second report of the same event from another flight attendant, 93% the same, and offers a merge. The Classifier proposes Cabin · smoke and fumes · galley equipment, mapped to the ICAO category SCF-NP, at 96%, and the Second Reader, reading blind, agrees.
“This is the second time I have smelled this on this aircraft — I think it was the same oven last month.”
- 04History first
The aircraft's history moves the score from Medium to High
Similar Reports Finder and Risk ScorerThe Similar Reports Finder links two earlier reports on oven 3 of N834CV — an electrical smell on Sep 29, scored 2D Low and sent to Inflight Services only, and a hot plastic smell with a tripped breaker on Oct 6, scored 2C Low — plus the Oct 6 tech log entry, the Narita work order deferring the oven under MEL 25-31-01 with its element insulation discolored, and a failed oven element on N829CV in July. On Corvane's matrix, two or more events on the same unit in 30 days make likelihood 4. The Risk Scorer moves the report from 2B Medium to 4B High and cites each step.
“Three events on oven 3 of N834CV in 16 days. The first two were scored Low and never reached Technical Operations.”
- 05One decision left
The two readers disagree, and Dana decides
Dana Whitfield · Safety AnalystThe Second Reader scores likelihood 3, Remote: the earlier two reports had no haze, so it reads this as the first event with haze, 3B Medium. Both arguments sit side by side. Dana chooses 4 Occasional, 4B High, with the reason code “Repeat on the same unit”, and the Risk Scorer keeps her decision as an example for the next report like it.
The Risk Scorer never lowers a score a person set, and a High always goes to a person.
- 06The deciding question
An FAA Service Difficulty Report is due Monday
Notice CheckerThe Notice Checker finds an FAA Service Difficulty Report likely under 14 CFR 121.703(a)(5), due Mon, Oct 19, 09:00 PT. An NTSB notice under 49 CFR 830.5(a)(4) needs an in-flight fire, and none was reported, so one question decides it. Dana sends it to Maintenance Control; Owen Hartley answers that the teardown photos show no flame or soot, the insulation discolored and no burn-through. Dana starts the SDR clock for Reliability, Technical Operations, and the Notice Checker will remind the filer 48 and 24 hours before it is due.
“Any evidence of flame or burning in the oven teardown?”
- 07Signed
Routed to Technical Operations and Cabin Safety, and the purser thanked
Router & Reporter LiaisonThe Router proposes Technical Operations, which owns the oven through Maintenance Control, with Cabin Safety second for the crew procedure, a 4-hour accept time for a High, and the VP Corporate Safety informed. The Reporter Liaison drafts a thank-you in plain words with no codes. Dana approves it, confirms and signs, and the report slides into its owners' lanes while the next one comes up.
“Thank you for your report on CV 66. It has gone to the teams that own the aft galley ovens and cabin safety, and it is linked to two earlier reports about the same oven.”
- 08Every clock
Notices and clocks, each with its clause and its filer
Tom Brennan · Ground Safety ManagerThe Notices screen lists every clock the Notice Checker has tested against the NTSB, FAA, DOT, OSHA and EASA rules: the OSHA in-patient hospitalization report for the Denver ramp injury with 6 hours left and a draft ready for Tom Brennan, the DOT hazmat written report on Form F 5800.1 for a power bank fire, an EASA occurrence report under EU 376/2014, and the NTSB call operations control already made. The agents draft and remind; a named person files.
“5 open, none missed this year.”
- 09Before it is late
Owners see the reasons, the links and the clock
Owen Hartley · Technical OperationsTechnical Operations' incoming lane now shows SR-2026-18342 with its 4B High score, the reason — the third event on oven 3 in 16 days, deferred at Narita — and the SDR due date. Owners see the reporter's role, never the name. The Router tracks accept times and nudges an owner before a report is late; one Medium report in this lane is already 6 hours late.
Accept times: High 4 hours, Medium 2 business days, Low 5.
- 10Monday
The weekly triage summary, written from every decision
Marcus Lee · Manager, Safety ReportingThe Trend & Learning agent drafts the summary for the Safety Review Board: 441 reports in the week, 99.1% routed the same day, 6 High, 0 notice clocks missed, and the two readers agreeing on 94.6% of fields. It flags cabin odor and fumes as rising, 23 reports and up 9, with the oven 3 repeat, and proposes rule R-14 so galley smells always reach Technical Operations. Marcus edits it and signs.
“The agent drafts; the Manager edits and signs.”