In 1996 the Programme was restructured in the form of a charitable company limited by guarantee to enable it to make a more effective contribution to the resolution of important safety-related issues. This corporate structure was selected in order to provide a totally independent organisation, with management and fiscal responsibilities held by an Independent Board of Trustees. The Maritime progra
mme has been operating since July 2003. CHIRP welcomes safety-related reports from flight crew, air traffic control officers, licensed aircraft maintenance engineers, cabin crew and the General Aviation community and people in the international maritime sector, including the shipping industry, fishing industry and leisure users. Reporters' identities are kept confidential. Personal details are not retained and are returned to the reporter or destroyed on closure of their report. The information provided is made available, with the approval of the reporter and in a disidentified form to those who can take action to remedy the problem. Important information gained through reports; after being disidentified, is also made as widely available as possible principally through the publication of FEEDBACK with the aim of improving safety standards. The CHIRP Aviation programme compliments the Civil Aviation Authority Mandatory Occurrence Reporting scheme. Both Aviation and Maritime programmes also compliment other formal reporting systems operated by many UK organisations, by providing a means by which individuals are able to raise issues of concern without being identified to their peer group, management, or the Regulatory Authority. Anonymous reports are not normally acted upon as they cannot be validated.
