SAFETY ON THE FLY – THE LESSONS OF ACCIDENTS

https://home.army.mil/meade/index.php/about/Garrison/public-affairs/digital-meade/safety-fly-lessons-accidents

7/21/20, 10:37 AM

By Kirk Fechter, Garrison Safety Office

Safety on the Fly – The Lessons of Accidents

I have investigated accidents before I had safety training and after. I will share some insights.

The first thing I do is check on the condition of the person involved in an accident. Was someone hurt? Was there medical care? If there was any type of injury or potential injury, I recommend a visit to the Occupational Health Clinic at Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center at Fort Meade.

I note that sometimes people feel too busy to go to the Clinic. I follow up many times and they will tell me that they were too busy. Some people need to man the office because there is no back-up for their particular skill set. I recommend that they at least make a phone call. The Clinic staff is friendly, skilled and helpful.

An accident investigation should include all relevant academic disciplines. It is important to have a medical perspective. Physics is important. Chemistry as documented in Safety Data Sheets (SDS) is needed. Other disciplines can be essential to the investigation as well.

A situation: One person on the job stepped in a hole and broke a bone. A lot of people step in holes. We always like to at least mark them with caution tape or with signs, or sticks with netting. This can be done very easily. Instant hazard abatement. Actually, fixing the holes in grass or sidewalks takes a little more time. There is technology to add some materials that can be put in the hole and fill it fast.

Another situation: Years ago, my track team was running laps around the track. As I sped along, in front of me, one of my teammates ran into a young man who was not paying attention. This youth ran in front of my teammate.  Someone blurted out that youngsters are indestructible. The young man, jumped up, dusted himself off, and continued his jogging. My teammate was a little more bruised and had a slight limp as he resumed running. This is illustrative of the medical consideration for the severity of an accident.

As a commander, I had an accident report in front of me. The form required that I recommend a preventive measure so that there would not be any more football injuries. I recall my young life spent playing sports. My elementary school had an asphalt playground. Much of my skin was gradually scraped off after collisions and falls. I played tackle football, full speed basketball, ran through rock strewn trails. I was often hurt, but not severely. Statistically, there are a lot of injuries from sports. Ironically, the worst accident that I ever had was playing volleyball. I landed on my foot and sprained it enough to require a cast.

I would not replace that time of learning the lessons of sport and the resulting fitness acquired.

If I could go back in time, I would have recommended that everyone have the benefit of a topnotch injury prevention program. It is amazing how some injury prevention measures are simple.

The Army War College discovered that new running shoes every year can prevent accidents. We know flexibility is important, but is it done correctly? I see many people bouncing up and down on their leg to stretch, the so-called ballistic stretch. The best is the dynamic stretch – stretch to the point of resistance without pain and hold for 20 seconds.

As we age, we become a fragile work force. All the knowledge and years of experience should be protected. I am proud that we have installed handrails in some buildings to help navigate hallways.

We need to pay attention to the workforce.  During Christmas at a hospital, it was very festive, and someone wrapped the handrails with Christmas lights effectively removing the hand rails from use. It didn’t’ affect me, a worker, but a patient would be hindered.

During an emergency, pay attention to those having trouble exiting the building.  I always monitor these situations so that I can help.

So, join the team that investigates accidents and learns from other’s mistakes.

What Makes a Good Meeting?

What Makes a Good Meeting?

https://home.army.mil/meade/index.php/about/Garrison/public-affairs/digital-meade/safety-fly

I have done some travelling and a lot of times while on the job here, it reminds me of my many travels. 

I think of a Tour Bus. I was on the big island of Hawaii on my way to Mauna Kea. I had driven up there before and gotten to the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station.  No one told me that it was not advisable to drive up to the summit (Of course, I had not checked!). I had a rental car and was told that if I got stuck, not only would it take possibly a few days to get the car towed, the rental car agencies would take no responsibility and I would be paying for extra rental despite lacking the use of the car for a few days.

So, I signed up for the Tour Bus. There are a lot of travel guides, but the Tour Bus through the years knows what is important and interesting.

I note that they have a schedule and agenda. If I had missed the bus, then I would miss the whole thing. As we travelled, I learned a lot and the guide noted interesting things. We stopped several times. I wish that I had known more about the places and I noted things that I wanted to follow up on, but then the train boarded and off we went again.

As we traveled there were more and more places we would go that I would like to continue. The top of Mauna Kea has an incredible sky and the tour guide had brought a powerful telescope that we used to gaze at planets. I wanted to stay there longer even though I could feel the altitude (almost 14,000 feet above sea level)! One lesson learned here applies to meetings: maybe there are too many meetings. Do we have enough time to prepare, do we have enough time to give our full attention, do we have enough time to follow-up?

Recent meetings have certainly changed. Now we are online. Attendance is up and meetings are longer.

Some things remain the same. We all gather together. We have invitees and we have those that find out about a meeting and attend.  The invitees may be on the agenda. Some are expected to brief.

Paying attention to briefings is important, as well as minimizing distractions wherever the work area may be.

The good thing about having our Fort Meade Safety and Occupational Health Advisory Committee (SOHAC) which meets once a quarter is that everyone has something to contribute. We all see hazards. We all hear about hazards. But we don’t always communicate them. Meetings like the SOHAC meeting provide a good chance to pool information.

The most important thing is the follow up. We need to identify hazards and then ensure they are eliminated or abated. It is not enough to request a work order. It is essential to check on progress. If you can’t fix a hole in the ground, mark the hazard with marking tape.

So after a trip to the safety meeting, don’t forget why we attend: to identify and eliminate hazards.

Making a meeting good!

REVERSING BAD DECISIONS: TWO EXAMPLES OF INCREDIBLE SURVIVAL

https://home.army.mil/meade/index.php/about/Garrison/public-affairs/digital-meade/reversing-bad-decisions-two-examples-incredible-survival

6/25/20, 5:06 PM

Kirk M. Fechter

Director, Garrison Safety Office

Safety on the Fly

Why do some survive a series of mistakes and bad judgment?

We have analyzed that a series of bad decisions can bring on an accident or put us in a perilous situation.

How does one survive? One key thing is, no matter how many bad decisions you make, you need to finally make a good decision. Physical fitness and powerful willpower also might be needed to survive.

I remember Jim Stolpa, a Soldier from California, who headed to Idaho for a funeral with his wife, Jennifer, and baby in 1993.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-07-mn-949-story.html

The first decision to make was route selection. Mistake 1: The choice made was to travel east on the I-80 freeway toward Nevada. A lot of progress could have been made traveling north on Interstate 5 that gets a lot less snow than the mountains.

(I think of the Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada that trapped settlers traveling west a century ago.)

Despite all the traffic beating down the snow on the interstate, the salt and the earth-moving equipment, the road was closed for snow.

Mistake 2: The next bad decision. They chose to bypass the interstate and go another route. At some point, they got stuck in the snow.

Mistake 3: The next bad decision. They left the car that offered shelter from the wind and cold and also offered heat as long as fuel was available. They walked looking for help.

The better choice was to leave the wife and baby in the car, especially since there was plenty of water in the form of snow that could be melted.

Good Decision 1: At some point, a decision was made to leave the wife and baby in the shelter of a cave.

Good Decision 2: He found the car and used it for shelter (Bad Decision 3 resulted in the car not starting because of the cold.)

Good Decision 3: He began running for miles on the route he had traveled, looking for help.

Heroic Decision 1: Suffering from hypothermia, he would not accept medical help until he showed the rescuers where his wife and daughter were in the cave.

Lucky Event

I also remember Walter Marino and his son Chris, who both survived for half a day treading water in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida in 2008.

When it comes to heroic will to survive, this man — who was wading in a harbor with his son — is a great example. This was Mistake 1, because the harbor was subject to swift flows out to sea. His son, who had autism, was being swept into the ocean.

Heroic Decision 1: The man jumped in the water to save his 12-year-old son. They were swept quickly to sea and disappeared from view from shore.

Heroic Decision 2: The man continued to stay with his son and talked with him.

Bad Occurrence 1: They became separated in the night.

Spiritual Soundness: Under the stars and in the dark Atlantic, he turned to his spirituality, realizing his life was in God’s hands. A religious medal rested on his chest.

Lucky Event No. 1: The man’s medal flashed in the morning sun and was seen by fishermen who had gotten a late start that day. They turned and rescued the man.

Heroic Intervention: They called the Coast Guard. Using the man’s present location, they were able to set up a helicopter search and found the boy.

Heroic Intervention No. 2: They were taken for medical care after more than 12 hours in the Atlantic Ocean, off the shore of Melbourne, Florida.

It was a lucky event because the water was warm enough not to cause hypothermia as fast as it would in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

In summary: Whenever one makes a bad decision or series of bad decisions, sometimes it is not too late to make good decisions.

If one has made bad decisions, they should gather their strength of will and spiritual strength and soundness, and never quit.

These are two actual examples of survival.

 

By Kirk M. Fechter

Director, Garrison Safety Office