Cadet Officer SchoolTechniques of Managing Safety as an Officer

Frank Jirik, NHQ Safety

Alaskan Grown

Helicopter Pilot

Alaska Flying – UH60L ESSS

50 MINS

Safet

y

So No Sleeping

Safety LeadershipManaging Safety as an Officer

Leaders should have an effective safety program that:

• Puts the member in control of safety• Addresses the cause of most mishaps• Goes beyond common sense• Focuses evaluation on the right numbers• Increases personal responsibility for safety• Builds positive attitudes• Increases involvement and creativity• Facilitates teamwork• Teaches and promotes process thinking• Shifts safety from priority to value

Puts the Member in Control of Safety

• Lets you (CAP members) make decisions• Doesn’t have unnecessary barriers

• Makes you feel like you can make a difference• A work smarter vs. work harder approach

Puts you in control of keeping yourself safe, your friends safe, and your fellow CAP team members safe.

Work Smarter

Not Harder

Addresses the Causes of Most Mishaps

• Focuses on at-risk behaviors• Helps improve attitudes, encourages and supports

• Focuses on behavior in a caring way• Doesn’t force behavior changes

With this approach it will help our members improve their safe behaviors because they choose to. In a

caring way, we all become safety coaches.

Innovation

Goes Beyond Common Sense

• What common sense is to one, is unknown to another, biased

• We hear what we want to hear, but behavior is action based

• It avoids feelings, attitudes, or common sense• It’s about program integration and creating “habits”

When you see behavior you can influence behavior directly. CAP’s practices work because they are based

on history and statistics, not because they sounded good.

Common Sense?

Focuses Evaluation on the Right Numbers

• Keeps focus on processes in your unit• Leaves the number crunching at the top level

• You can control behaviors• You can concentrate on what YOU do for safety

Have you ever played a sport and watched the scoreboard the whole time?

Let’s take a look!

FY08 FY09 FY10

• A/C Accidents* 2.84 3.57 3.8• A/C Incidents 79.55 82.13 66.43 • A/C Repair Costs $685k $785k $156k

• Vehicle Accident Rate** 0 .18 0

• Vehicle Incidents 3.96 3.79 7.16

• Bodily Inj. Accident Rate** 3.59 1.8 .79

• Bodily Injury Incidents 6.79 9.2 47.6

• Fatalities 2 1 0

Safety of our MembersSafety of our MembersAs of: 7 June 2010

* National Aircraft Accident and Incident rates per/100,000 flying hours* National Aircraft Accident and Incident rates per/100,000 flying hours

**Rates calculated per/10,000 members**Rates calculated per/10,000 members

National Statistics

Does it have an R.P.M. Limiter?

Increases Personal Responsibility for Safety

• Accountability vs. Responsibility• You can be held accountable for something, but not feel

responsible• Do you feel better when you want to do it?

• Can we hold everyone accountable for everything they do?

If you feel empowered to make decisions and to get involved in an improvement process, you will feel responsible.

Responsible people become the leaders of themselves and are totally committed to achieving a solid safety culture.

Builds Positive Attitudes

• Builds a “Want To” attitude vs. a “Have To” attitude• Adult-Child Conversations, the “gotcha” game

• If safety appears to be a “gotcha” game, it promotes negativity

• Focus on rewards and positive feedback

When you are given positive recognition for successes or efforts you feel good about yourself and what you

have done. You’ll feel more responsible and go beyond the call of duty to improve safety performance.

Batteries Included? Highbeam by Maglight

Increases Involvement and Creativity

• All accidents are preventable! How does that make you feel?

• Accident implies “chance occurrence” • The statement implies we know enough to avoid them and

could make you reluctant to admit you were injured or had a close call

• Never lose sight that we don’t want ANYONE to get hurt, EVER

You can identify at-risk behaviors. Your promotion of behavior based safety provides methods for making this happen. Our safety program requires top-down support, from you

the formal leader, that encourages bottom-up involvement.

Facilitates Teamwork

• Teamwork means everyone helps each other, always “COACH”-ing

• C – Care• O – Observe• A – Analyze

• C – Communicate • H – Help

• Safety base coaching helps decrease at-risk behaviors, builds trust, and an interdependent mindset – the team

thinking needed for a culture of safe habits

Teamwork

Teaches and Promotes Process Thinking

• Everything we do is done by process or steps• System thinkers understand the link between behavior and

attitude• A small change in behavior can result in a beneficial change

in attitude• Eventually it results in total commitment

System thinkers take a broad and long term perspective look. They look beyond immediate pay-off, taking the easy road,

speeding through tasks, or taking short-cuts. They understand the benefits of the bigger payoff in the future.

Shifts Safety from Priority to Value

• Safety is our PRIORITY! “YAAAAY!” ..untilhuman nature kicks in. (Late schedules, weather, etc)

• CAP’s vision for safety should be:Safety becomes linked to every priority in our mission, or

wherever we find ourselves - even in your own yard.

Safety by Example. When you demonstrate a safe way of doing something you may not see visible benefits

today, but later, on some occasion, for someone, the lesson will be big. A mishap will be prevented.

Do you want to set this example?

Or this example?

Practical Exercise, Quiz, Prizes!

Questions?

Safety is a HABIT that only YOU can positively control!