Risk management can improve safety

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Adrianne Traxinger
  • Air Force Print News
SAN ANTONIO --  With the first half of the 101 Critical Days of Summer almost finished, 14 airmen were killed in private motor vehicle accidents. Eight of those killed were involved in motorcycle mishaps, including one during the Fourth of July weekend.

Air Force leaders are emphasizing operational risk management to keep airmen safe.

“There’s risk involved in everything we do,” said Chief Master Sgt. Clifford Tebbe, ground safety superintendent at the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. “The good news is risk is manageable.”

Operational risk management is a tool to help people think through the risks associated with an activity, on or off duty. It involves determining the risks associated with an action or activity, weighing them against the benefits and controlling the risks, according to safety officials. A foundational principle of ORM is “accept no unnecessary risk.”

“We usually get away with taking risks, so we become oblivious to its presence,” Tebbe said. “On the extreme end of our risk tolerance continuum, we become flippant about it.”

One area where people take risks every day is on the highway.

“If there’s a place where we need to exercise risk management, it’s on the road,” Tebbe said.

Private motor vehicle accidents continue to be the major threat to airmen, according to safety officials. Since October, 33 airmen have died from preventable motor vehicle accidents.

People can start minimizing accidents by identifying hazards associated with an activity, evaluating the severity of possible adverse effects and identifying ways to reduce the hazard. Assessing the situation leads to making decisions based on the information at hand, implementing the risk controls and reviewing the effectiveness of the process, according to officials.

A fundamental part of risk management is being vigilant regarding fellow airmen’s safety, according to officials. People are the Air Force’s most valuable asset, and deaths do not just affect family and friends, but the whole mission.

“The losses we experience are far-reaching,” Tebbe said. “We don’t just lose a person, we lose a friend, a family member and their experience.”

Risk management has been incorporated into the curriculum at airman leadership school and noncommissioned officers academies.