From the Maintenance Officer

Greetings from the Naval Safety Command. Sadly, this will be my final MECH Magazine introduction, as later this year I transfer to the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee. I’ve had an incredible tour with first the Naval Safety Center and later as part of the newly designated Naval Safety Command. My time during the last three years has seen an enormous change in the way the Safety Management System is administered, assessed and reported upon. I’d like to thank each and every one on my team here and all the outstanding fleet maintainers for their support of the Navy’s safety program, and their receptiveness to the Naval Safety Command team when we show up for a Tier III assessment.

As we all continue to engage on supporting the Chief of Naval Operations’ “Get Real, Get Better” initiative, it is paramount that we continue to be self-aware, learn even further to self-assess, and most importantly, self-correct. Supporting this initiative will be the cornerstone of success from the deck plate all the way to the highest levels of the Navy and Marine Corps chains of command and into the future.

At the time of this writing, the Naval Safety Command is starting its 16th Tier III local area assessment, so it has been an extremely busy last 12 months. During that time, my team and I have had the opportunity to witness some real change. From our reported discrepancies, Aqueous Film Forming Foam systems are starting to get repaired, hangar bay doors are increasingly becoming operational again and senior enlisted leaders are understanding much better how to mitigate day-to-day risks that occur during normal operations. Senior officers, O-5 and above, are creating risk registries and reporting risks up the chain of command by those senior officers is becoming a reality. Risk is starting to be assumed at the appropriate level. Senior Navy leaders have fully embraced our assessments and are working hard to resource badly needed equipment, infrastructure and manpower. This edition of MECH Magazine will primarily focus on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) program called the Dirty Dozen, which identifies the top 12 human factors that lead to accidents and incidents in aviation and aviation maintenance.

As I close this chapter in my career and move on to my next duty assignment, I can look back on my time at the Naval Safety Command and truly see honest communication that drives real change is taking place. Junior and senior Sailors and Marines alike, we are all in this together, and now it’s more important than ever to know we cannot let our guard down and we must continue to “Get Real, Get Better” in everything we do personally and professionally.

Take care and stay safe. I’ll see you around the fleet.

Priscilla Kirsh Supervisory Editor

Cibonay Russell Editor-In-Chief and Layout Designer

Rebecca Coleman

Writer and Editor

Amy Robinson

Writer and Editor