Safety Compass March 2014

8/12/2019 Safety Compass March 2014

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UNCOMPROMISING COMMITMENT TO SAFETYWORLD CLASS PATIENT CARE MARCH 2014

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SAFE -vs- AIRWORTHYDwain McDonald

BAM, Beaumont TX (Ret.)

We had received a call to transfer a patient from the Port Arthur,TX. medical center to the medical center inHouston. At approximately 0345 hrs. the patient was loaded on the aircraft. After my walk-around

inspection, I climbed in, strapped in and put on my helmet and prepared to start the aircraft. Before I could

start the aircraft the med crew announced the patient was coding and they were going to move him back to

the ER. As I was taking off my helmet I heard a bang and someone say Imsorry.I looked down and saw a

hole approximately 2by 5in the pilot chin bubble. The ER nurse had run the stretcher into the chin bubble.I exited the aircraft and called the mechanic and explained what happened and the damage done to the

aircraft. I told the mechanic to start the procedure to get us a new chin bubble. I told him I would take the

aircraft back to our base which is about a 4 minute flight. This is where I went wrong. My definition of

airworthy means the aircraft is safe to fly. However airworthy according to the FARs means that the

damage has been written up in the logbook, properly serviced and signed off by maintenance and returned

to service. Also, a request for a one time flight must be made to the FAA if it needs to be repositioned for

repair. This incident is still under investigation by the FAA and I stand a chance of having my license

suspended for a period of time. Bottom line: If the aircraft sustains any damage whatsoever, no matter how

minor you may think it is, leave it where you had itparked and let maintenance do their job.

Are We There Yet?After much research, comparing and contrasting, all

four companies came to the same conclusion:

Baldwin Aviation is the vendor we want to partner

with for safety reporting.

Expect changes to how we

report things starting in April.First it will be safety reporting, next, the flight risk

assessment then other reports and forms. Every

employee will have visibility on the risks at their

base and across the company. If you havent

watched the Baldwin training videos on

Cornerstone, now would be a good time.

No Really, Are We There Yet?Final stages of polishing the Safety Manual are

almost complete. Changes you will see from the

2014 Safety Initiatives

old way of doing things:

A formalizedJust Culture

program, implemented

consistently across all four

companies

A Med-Trans Time-Out

Policy to provide all

employees with a tool to

prevent bad situations

from becoming worse.

Localizing the Safety Compass. Get our programs

involved to host a month of Safety Compass to share

their safety efforts.


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2013 started off with the tragic accident in Mason City IA, but thankfully endedpeacefully. Tracking our top two recurring incidents, we have a near tie between bird

strikes (8) and leaving stuff on, attached to, or unsecure on Takeoff (7). Letsdiscuss

mitigation for these two types of events.

Bird StrikesThere isnt much we can do to prevent birds from

operating in our airspace. So mitigation is best

addressed by what we can do to ensure the safety of

everyone on board should one crash your party. A

bird strike through the windscreen can be a

catastrophic event, and aircraft control could be lost,

making recovery difficult or impossible given the

time you have to react. 92% of bird strikes occur in

the airspace we typically operate in (below 3500

AGL)

Mitigation strategy1 Helmet visor down or glasses on during the day

2 Clear visor down at night unless NVGs are worn.

3 Scan 45 degrees either side of the nose in your

flight path, slightly above to slightly below flight

level

4 Dont rely on the birds instinct to dive as you

approach it, be prepared to perform

evasive action to avoid a collision

5 Quiz yourself periodically in flight:

What actions would I take and

where would I land if I lost my

engine(s)right now?

6 If the pilot needed my help, what

could I could I do to ensure a successful PL?

Pre-Flight Misses:Urgency yes, rushing, no. There is no substitute for

attention to detail. Unfortunately, attention to

detail falls victim to rushing every time. In 2013,

we took off at least seven times with aircraft

unprepared for flight. Whether it was a door left

ajar, a seat belt hanging out of the aircraft or

needed equipment left on the pad or falling off in

flight.

In 2014, letsnot charge the hill until we are ready:

Crew in sync, aircraft prepared for flight,

Required equipment on board, nothing left behind,

everything secure.

Mitigation strategyAs our new policy states, after everything and everyon

else has boarded, one person is responsible for making

sure that nothing was left out, on, attached to the

aircraft, and panels and doors are secure.

There is no excuse for taking off before you and

your aircraft are ready to fly.

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I ask this question to myself as much as my fellowmaintenance technicians. Is today the day that being

tired or preoccupied results in an accident or

ncident?

Take a minute and think back on the mistakes youve

made in your career.how many where due to being

tired or preoccupied with another matter. I would

hazard a guess, more than half.

On December 7th2011 N37SH, a Eurocopter AS350-B2

crashed with tragic consequences, the loss of five lives

and the destruction of the aircraft. NTSB Aircraft

Accident Report PB2012-103890 dated January 29th

2013 cited four areas in the cause of the accident:

Improper re-use of used self-locking hardware Maintenance personnel fatigue

Lack of procedures outlining the maintenance tasks

Lack of human factors training by the company

The work environment for mechanics in the EMS field

s not conducive to a steady work schedule so

maintaining your aircraft can involve some fatigue. In

the accident investigation it was noted that the

maintenance personnel

had been called in early to work and presumed to be

tired which started the chain of events. So what can

we do to minimize the risk when called in?

First is to follow all procedures associated with the

task at hand, short cuts or procedures handed down

through generations are not worth the time saved if

an incident occurs.

Second have an extra pair of eyes check your work,

explain the task steps and verify all FOD and tools are

removed. If the second pair of eyes is tired, get a

third. In the Eurocopter accident, the Quality

Assurance mechanic was also tired and overlooked

the errors.

Third, review common maintenance task and standard

practices, standards may have changed.

Fourth, knowledge is power. Study Human Factors in

aviation maintenance and pay attention to what your

body is telling you, taking a break to refresh your mind

may be all it takes to break the chain of events.

The responsibility we hold as mechanics should not be

thought of lightly, the lives of all who fly in your tail

number currently and years to come rely on what we

do today. BE SAFE, AND KEEP THEM IN THE AIR.

IS TODAY THE DAY?

Eric M. Smyth

Lifeguard Base Mechanic

Cedar Rapids IA


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HOW FAST CAN YOU DIAL 911?

How many pushes does it take on your cellphone to dial 911? And how long do you think it would take

to correctly input those selections in an emergency, with adrenaline dumping into your bloodstream?

Try this little exercise. Do 20 pushups as fast as you can, then immediately grab your cell phone, punch

in your security code, go to the dial pad and type in 911. How fast were you able to do it? If you cant

do 20 pushups, that is a separate issue that involves a gym membership.

If you have never been in a life or death situation, its easy from your

armchair to assume that you would be able to focus your attentionand deftly input the correct numbers in the correct sequence. That is a

bad assumption. When your mind perceives a mortal threat to your

safety, fight or flight physiology take over. The fight or flight response is

our body's primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body

to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival.

Symptoms include:

All symptoms that make dialing 911 from a cellphone more difficult. Smart phones are taking over asthe go-to device to keep us connected to our world. So why not use technology to compensate for

physical shortcomings? Why not employ your phone to increase your safety and security posture?

There are many apps available, three of which are shown below as representative examples. While

Safety Compass does not endorse any product, our crack team of researchers found all three to be

well designed and surprisingly simple to operate, even under the life and death stress ofpushups.

On-Watch 911 imsafe


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UNCOMPROMISING COMMITMENT TO SAFETY

WORLD CLASS PATIENT CARE MARCH 2014

Documents

Safety Compass March 2014