Kitty Hawk Works Hard to Play By the Book
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS060320-14
Release Date: 3/21/2006 1:10:00 AM
From USS Kitty Hawk Public Affairs
YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- USS Kitty Hawk’s (CV 63) leadership is taking proactive steps to review all procedures performed aboard ship as a way to enforce high safety standards and minimize the hazards found in inherently dangerous shipboard environments.
According to Capt. Ed McNamee, commanding officer of Kitty Hawk, the idea of doing things “by the book” came to him after a recent video teleconference with Vice Adm. James Zortman, commander, Naval Air Forces, and his O-6 operational commanders regarding the unusual number of aviation related mishaps this year.
“In looking at the recent past, there seems to be a clear trend that we simply might not be doing things the way we’re trained to do them,” he said. “We’ve got exceptional Sailors doing an exceptional amount of work, but perhaps we’re simply not paying enough attention to already published guidance.”
McNamee is often heard telling the 3,500 Sailors under his command about the need to follow the rules.
“If we kill - or injure - a Sailor, we write a rule. Naval aviators know that their NATOPS (Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization) manuals are 'written in blood,' but this can be said of all of our manuals throughout the fleet. We owe it to ourselves to learn from the mistakes made by others so that we continually improve our safety processes.”
Last month, Kitty Hawk leadership met to devise a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) to outline ways to implement the new policy of better enforcing standards on the ship.
According to Cmdr. Carlos Lofstrom, in charge of Kitty Hawk’s “By the Book” committee, several key goals are now being pursued.
"Each department has been asked to re-identify their key directives, or how they do things by their own book," said Lofstrom, who is also Kitty Hawk’s intelligence officer.
“We’re not adding more rules. We’re simply asking people to re-familiarize themselves with the directives that govern their specific workcenters," he added. "It’s a renewed commitment to ensuring that all personnel are familiar with these and doing their utmost to follow them."
During initial committee meetings, lists of recommendations on how to encourage “By the Book” standards for Sailors were drafted, according to Lofstrom. These included scheduling at least one hour a week for in-rate training, addressing guiding directives for each department or division, making procedural compliance a chief selection criteria for awards such as Sailor of the Year or Sailor of the Quarter, and educating senior leadership on general procedures so they can be actively involved in most shipboard evolutions.
"We are reviewing where our own oversight and auditing is weak in the area of ensuring we do things by the book," McNamee said. "We are looking at where we need to provide better training for the crew and what is the proper role of supervisors in strengthening good habits. And this is only the start."
The chief reason for damage to equipment, injuries and malfunctions has been Sailors failing to follow the proper Navy guidelines while doing their jobs, said McNamee.
Getting all Sailors to understand the importance of following proper procedures is now an all-hands evolution, said McNamee.
“We’re taking a round turn on all of our procedures across all ratings and throughout the ship," McNamee said. "It’s a round turn on following good business practices, practices that keep our equipment in good order, and most importantly, that keep our Sailors safe.”
The Kitty Hawk Strike Group is the largest carrier strike group in the Navy and is composed of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, the guided-missile cruisers USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Cowpens (CG 63), and Destroyer Squadron 15.
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