 |
| Home > Proactive Aviation Safety > Welcome |
|
 |
The fact that you're here shows you're interested in making an impact on mishap reduction and not afraid to look at new processes and tools to improve our safety culture.
It's not a revolutionary concept that today's Class E's can become tomorrow's Class C's, which can eventually become Class A's. Another safety axiom is that "there are no new mishaps." Both of these thoughts are true but lead to an even bigger question. Rather than fix the E's before they become A's, why can't we identify the issues before they even become a Class E event or an actual mishap? If you've had the same thought, then the proactive safety (ProSEF) tools of Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA), Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) are exactly what you've been asking for. We now have the tools to transform Air Force Safety and find the mishap precursors that may otherwise have gone unknown. The only thing we need is your active participation and support.
So how can aircrew benefit from these proactive safety tools? Nothing works better in pre-mission planning, step and debriefs than facts born out of evidence-based training. MFOQA gives aircrews hard facts of "what" the aircraft did, ASAP tells us the "why," and LOSA ties it all together for the big picture. It's hard to argue with trend analysis based on facts. More importantly, identifying these threats allows us to defend against them (know your hazards then mitigate your hazards).
From a commander's perspective, ProSEF provides the ability to detect normalization of deviance ("we've always done it that way" syndrome) and procedural drift where we slowly develop bad habits/practices that would otherwise go unrecognized until a mishap resulted. Additionally, ProSEF has the ability to refine results and distinguish between garrison versus deployed trends on a location by location fidelity. Obviously, proactive tools to prevent injuries and damage are a top priority to our leadership and worth the effort involved.
So, in addition to the above, what's in it for you? How about using data driven streams to focus your efforts and avoid wasting time on safety projects that don't yield results? With the ProSEF trifecta of tools, you can measure your initiatives and tailor your programs with what gets results rather than the traditional "our rate is low so we must be doing everything right" approach. Stats/rates are like a Slinky because they lead to reactive safety programs after the injury/damage has occurred. ProSEF offers a way to stop the mishap before the rate goes up and have more confidence in the future of your mishap prevention program. But, until we spend more effort proactively identifying hazards and preventing mishaps, we'll never be able to spend less effort and resources investigating the aftermath. Where would you rather spend your limited time for the most gain?
Take a few minutes to explore the website to learn about MFOQA, ASAP and LOSA. Feel free to contact anyone in the ProSEF arena here at the Air Force Safety Center to discuss issues of interest to you. Thanks for finding our site; we look forward to working together on this exciting new and transformational approach to proactive safety.
Chief, Air Force Aviation Safety (SEF)
Headquarters Air Force Safety Center
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
