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Air Force chief of safety spells out No. 1 priorities, way ahead

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mike Meares
  • 15th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR HICKAM, Hawaii --  The Air Force's top safety Airman visited Friday to take a look at the Hickam portion of the base from a safety perspective and see the safety plans envisioned for the joint basing effort.
 
Prior to this trip, Maj. Gen. Fred Roggero, Air Force chief of safety, hadn't had the opportunity since taking the role as chief of Air Force safety, to visit the Airmen in the Pacific region.

"The number one job for safety is preserve our combat capabilities," the general said. "Our most essential piece of our combat capability is our Airmen. Safety is about preserving that capability and saving lives."

General Roggero's observations and insights gained from Hickam and other Pacific Air Forces bases during this trip will help him advise Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, and guide Air Force policy across ground, flight, and weapons domains. They will also be used as a starting point in discussions with sister-services heads of safety. Airmen serving in joint roles are more the norm than the exception, deployed and at home -- especially at Hickam.

"I've had many meetings with the other service safety chiefs," he said. "I'm due to meet them immediately upon my return to (Washington D.C.) to talk about all things joint and safety."

The bi-annual Joint Service Safety Chiefs conference has the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard safety experts get together to discuss joint safety issues that plague all the services. One of the major items on the agenda is joint basing.

"One of the big lessons we've learned looking at the various joint base relationships out there is things have changed for each of the services," he said. "Specifically in safety, we can no longer push out a service specific safety policy. Anything that we do has to be able to interact with another service at one of the joint bases. "

And vice versa, as the sister service safety chiefs write policies, they have to keep the Air Force's safety policies for joint base locations in mind when making decisions. Those decisions are data driven in most cases.

"As we look through safety items we can spot some differences," he said. "Right now we are looking to standardize our motorcycle training for all the services."

One example of data driven policy comes from the 42 four-wheeled motor vehicle fatalities in 2009 for the Air Force.

"This is significant," he said. "Each and every one is a tragic loss to the Air Force team, tragic loss to the family, and anything we can do to prevent that I think we should be doing."

The general said of the 42 Airmen who lost their lives, 63 percent of them were involved in wreckless behavior. There is always a percentage that will be a pure accident, no matter how much training they received.

Another example of off-duty safety policy that is being scrutinized is motorcycle safety. The training and personal protective equipment requirements are different across the board. The Department of Defense instruction uses language like "highly encouraged" where the Air Force policy makes it "mandatory." The meeting of the safety chiefs is a step to standardize the requirements for all servicemembers.

"PPE requirements are currently more strict in the Air Force," the general said. "We are looking at the underlying reasons why they have become more strict over the years. In some cases there really is not reason or that degree of conservatism."

Whether safety policy is the same across the services or not, off-duty safety concerns plague Airmen every year. General Roggero believes is will take a grass roots message, with each Airman being a good Wingman.

"As wingmen, we have to be on the lookout for each other and find out who is at risk; then be the best Wingman possible to prevent those types of mishaps," he said.

According to the general, last year was the Air Force's safest year for aircraft accidents with 17; that's less than one accident every 100,000 flying hours. He chalks it up t great front line supervisors and leadership training their Airmen to following checklists and technical orders. He said Airmen are professionals at their job.

"Where we need to improve is we need to take that same professionalism and apply that outside the gates," he said.

The statistics since 9-11 don't lie, he said. More than 650 Airmen have died since 9-11 in ground mishaps, but only 55 Airmen have been killed in combat operations during Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM.

"The message for supervisors and commanders is if they want to save a life, watch what their Airmen are doing off-duty and be a good wingman," he said.