SAFETY AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Stickers (concerning foreign object damage, tower signals, and so forth) Safety inspection checklists Letters, memoranda, and messages Units of the operating forces receive mishap prevention information directly from fleet and type commanders. These advisories can take the following forms: Standard organizational manuals Fleet and force commanders’ regulations Fleet and force commanders’ technical notes Force commanders “lessons learned” Advisory messages calling attention to recurring mishaps and to new procedures that will reduce or better control hazardous conditions Conventional and nuclear weapons notes/manuals “Engineering notes” containing policy and technical information Nuclear propulsion notes Naval reactors technical bulletins Additionally, higher authority distributes information to the operating forces through other publications and periodicals. The Naval Safety Center receives and analyzes all mishap and injury reports submitted by aviation, ship, submarine, and shore units. It indexes the information from these reports under headings such as phase of operation, material failure, personnel action, or cause factors. It also incorporates the information into a computerized data bank from which it can retrieve mishap and injury records involving any specified set of circumstances. In that way the Naval Safety Center can monitor mishap trends and pinpoint areas requiring corrective action. The Naval Safety Center also maintains operational or exposure data, such as the Individual Flight Activity Report and the Diving Log. It combines information from these documents with mishap data to determine the significance of factors involved in mishaps. The Naval Safety Center conducts safety surveys upon the request of a unit commanding officer. It then uses the survey information to identify and analyze hazards and mishap potential situations to determine preventive action. Most mishaps result from actions incorrectly performed by people who lack training, knowledge, or motivation or who fail to recognize the hazards and the risks involved. To reduce mishaps, personnel must eliminate existing hazards and learn to recognize possible hazards. The Naval Safety Center provides a team of officers and chief petty officers to conduct the safety surveys. Most of these personnel have been associated with mishap prevention for a number of years and are experts in their fields. They are an invaluable source of information and guidance in the field of mishap prevention. The team conducts informal surveys and provides the results only to the commanding officer of the unit involved and to the databank at the Naval Safety Center. The Accident Prevention Education Project was established at the Naval Safety Center in March 1974. This project is designed to increase the awareness of all naval personnel in mishap prevention. The specific tasks of the project are as follows: Review existing course material to determine what mishap prevention training is available Help to develop mishap prevention training packages tailored to each course reviewed Help CNET carry out mishap prevention training on a Navywide basis Develop a procedure that allows the Naval Safety Center to take part in technical audits of training courses for the purpose of evaluating mishap prevention content The Naval Safety Center provides guidance for incorporating mishap prevention “lessons learned” into the construction of new ships and for improving and converting safety systems aboard ships. The center uses the safety recommendation (SAFEREC) system, ship safety information bank, mishap and injury reports, casualty reports (CASREPs), and the maintenance data system (MDS) reports to gather data. It recommends shipboard and system safety improvements based on that data. SAFETY AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES Without question, safety and occupational health (SOH) and good management go hand in hand. When one is pursued to the disadvantage of the other, the total outcome becomes less effective and less efficient. A 5-4