Back to basics: Mishap prevention is vital

  • Published
  • By Jeremy Maddox
  • 452 AMW Safety Office
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Mishap prevention is vital to keeping our work environments safe and maintaining Air Force assets. Reporting and investigating mishaps allows wing safety to look for the reason behind them in order to prevent them in the future.

The Air Force defines a mishap as an unplanned occurrence or series of unplanned occurrences, not caused by combat, that results in injury or illness to USAF military or
on-duty civilian personnel, damage to its property or equipment, or that have a high accident potential. In short, they are accidents waiting to happen or that have occurred that result in illness, injury or damage.

Mishaps come in many forms, ranging from a paper cut to USAF property damage totaling millions of dollars. Investigations reveal that human factors are almost always a contributor to the mishap. Although some are quite unique and interesting, all mishaps need to be taken seriously and reported to wing safety immediately after the mishap scene is secure and stabilized.

We take pride in reducing the risk of potential hazards as well as handling mishaps because the better our data, the more accurate we can be at eliminating potential hazards in the future. We treat mishap prevention like a "FOD" walk. We inspect the hazard then try to eliminate it in the best possible manner. Working together, we can achieve the best results.

Here are six tips to help prevent mishaps in your work area:

➤ Exercise control over your job tasks
➤ Analyze the job environment and tasks through Operational Risk Management and Job Safety Analysis
➤ Eliminate hazards and correct deficiencies
➤ Encourage employee participation in workplace risk management processes
➤ Report all mishaps and post notices of hazards
➤ Plan for the unexpected

Proper mishap prevention can save Airmen limbs and fingers, and save the USAF millions of dollars. Unity, teamwork and a culture of safe practices will create the ideal workplace for our Airmen. For more information on mishap prevention, call wing safety, or  review AFI 91-202 or visit the Air Force Safety Center website at http://www.afsc.af.mil.