JSL I know we have had our differences of opinion in the past but please can I give you some advice as one colleague to another.....be very careful here.
Of course the advice given to you by Firestorm is correct and the rationale sound but..... please can I tell you about something that happened to a close friend of mine who worked for a major airline (not BA) and did exactly as you are considering doing. The safety culture of any airline is only as good as the receptiveness of the people charged with the responsibility of upholding it.
My friend raised 3 safety concerns with this airline. The first involved CC only. When she raised this CC managers failed to take ownership of this for 3 months. During that time some CC (including my friend) were injured so the issue was raised again. As a result of doing this my friend was suspended and taken off a promotion course by somebody who didn't have the maturity to see the bigger picture and was of the opinion CC should be seen but not heard in relation to safety. The matter was finally resolved with union intervention and my friend re- instated.
My friend had to wait several months for her promotion so lost salary. During this time she was subjected to open hostility from so called managers at her base. Further to that this hostility was tranferred to the company email system when she had input into a second issue which was formally raised by the flight deck via an ASR. The CC Manager who sent the email pressed the wrong button and it landed in my friend's inbox. The behaviour which she had felt from these people was now no longer a perception but a written reality.
The third issue involved flight deck SOP's, a failure of which impacted on my friends SOP's in the cabin. The Captain refused to support a CSR despite admitting he had made a mistake which was plainly felt by all on board apparently! When my friend submitted a written report the manager receiving it failed to submit it onto the company safety database for investigation. It was this dishonesty by this manager that prompted my friend to contact the CAA via their whistleblowing procedure.
This procedure, although guarenteeing anonimity, states you should try and resolve the matter through the company procedures. My friend tried to do this and failed. When she went to the CAA she lost her job due of the vindictiveness of immature people playing at cabin crew management and didn't want their procedures or behaviour under scrutiny. There was a term for this to do with working relationships.....I can't remember what.
If you raise an issue via the CAA which you have already raised in the company and you are the only person to do so the company will probably guess who you are. Be prepared to take the consequences.....
The Public Interest Disclosure Act is supposed to protect people from this behaviour. It doesn't but it will ensure you are compensated when you loose your job and bring a claim to the employment tribunal.
My friend now works for a different airline and is happy. The safety culture of that airline is the same as stated at her previous one but she would always now go through CHIRP or the CAA direct. She would never raise it direct to the company because of previous experience. I would always now do likewise because of what I saw her go through at her airline.
Be careful JSL. If you are happy with the safety culture at BA and the people charged with upholding it then raise your issue to the "relevant person" (your words). If you have not raised it as yet then go through CHIRP or the CAA. I would advise against combining the two.
I wish you luck on whatever you decide to do and I hope BA are different.