• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

ACCIDENT SUMMARY

The division's transportation company was bivouacked in a wide ravine during an exercise. About 0725 on the second day, a soldier burst into the exercise controllers' tent at the top of the ravine, desperately yelling for help. He had just discovered an injured soldier at the bottom of the ravine. The controllers followed him down to the accident scene. Their efforts to revive the victim were unsuccessful.

The soldier who discovered the accident described what he had found. As he walked up a trail through the ravine, he noticed a deuce-and-a-half idling where the steep slope leveled out onto the ravine floor. Although he could not see anyone working around the vehicle, the ton-and-a-half trailer seemed unusually close to the rear of the truck. When he walked to the back of the vehicle, he saw a soldier wedged between the trailer and the tailgate of the truck. Quickly, he set the brake on the trailer, jumped into the cab and pulled the truck forward. The victim fell to the ground. When the victim failed to respond, the soldier ran to the nearest tent for help.

The victim had left the unit's operations tent about 0630, after getting his mission for that day. It appeared he had backed his truck into position in front of the trailer to hook it up. Unfortunately, the trailer was parked on a gradual slope at the edge of the ravine floor. Working by himself, the young soldier apparently released the trailer's brake and tried to manhandle the trailer tongue onto the pintle of the truck. As the trailer rolled forward, down the gradual slope, the soldier missed the pintle and the tongue went under the truck. The soldier's upper body was trapped between the trailer and the rear of the truck. With his arms pinned to his sides, he could not extricate himself. Later medical reports indicated the soldier had suffered no broken bones, but the weight of the trailer on the downslope prevented his diaphragm from functioning. He died of suffocation.

The evidence suggests there is a tendency to leave safety back in garrison when a unit goes to the field. But the field environment is less familiar and presents different, often subtle, hazards not encountered in the company area. The need for a troop safety program becomes even more acute in the field.

DEVELOPING A PROGRAM

Developing a commander's troop safety program requires input from those who have a thorough knowledge of the tasks required of the soldier, individually, and the squads, platoons and unit, collectively. Those with such knowledge are the NCOs. They have the experience gained in doing soldier tasks as they moved up in the ranks. Unit officers must provide the environment and impetus to nurture and develop the program, but all unit leaders are responsible for sustaining the consciousness of unit personnel toward troop safety.

Brainstorming sessions by the officers and NCOs within a unit can produce a troop safety program unique to that unit. For example, a transportation unit's troop safety program could include a buddy system to enhance safety during truck operations. Working together, two drivers can prepare their vehicles, one at a time, for upcoming missions. When one is climbing around on a vehicle, the other can serve as a safety spotter to break a fall if a slip occurs or as a ground guide when positioning vehicles. During convoys and resupply missions, a second soldier in the cab can navigate and watch for signs of fatigue in the driver. Just having a second soldier on the scene if an accident occurs can save a life.

Other considerations for a troop safety program include:

• Conducting convoy safety briefings, highlighting route hazards, intervals, speeds, overhead obstructions, tunnels, weather conditions, defensive driving skills, control of individual weapons and ammunition, dismount signals, and smoking.
• Keeping windows and mirrors free of frost, mud, and dust.
• Refueling operations in garrison, during road march and in a field environment.
• Training in recovery operations: use of towbars, winches, chains, and cables.
• Ensuring organizational vehicle equipment (OVE) includes safety equipment (wheel chocks, tire chains, highway warning kits).
• Using safety goggles when working on vehicles or while driving with windshields down.
• Ensuring the availability, serviceability and use of fire-fighting equipment.
• Promoting awareness of hazards associated with ice, snow, dew that make surfaces slippery when climbing on vehicles to secure loads or perform services. Boot soles collect oil and grease, increasing the danger.
• Avoiding prolonged engine idling in confined areas; ensuring that cabs and passenger areas are ventilated; and prohibiting sleeping in idling vehicles.
• Handling of hazardous cargo and flammables.
• Storing of petroleum, oils, lubricants (POL); disposing of waste POL, oily rags.
• Enforcing sleep plans.

Maintenance operations present specific safety hazards where specialized equipment is used, such as cranes, A-frames, and jacks (which require load testing), tire cages, and welding equipment (acetylene torch, pressurized bottles).

Mess operations and facilities also have specific troop safety considerations, including cooking stoves and immersion heaters (operator licensing), control and disposal of garbage, potability of water and the proper washing/sanitizing of cooking and eating utensils.

MANAGING RISK

A valuable tool available to the commander is the risk management process, also called smart decisionmaking. Risk management allows the commander to accomplish his mission with the least risk to personnel and equipment. The process is applicable to day-to-day unit training activities and pays off in maximizing warfighting capability.

Applying risk management techniques in the transportation company's field exercise described above would have allowed leaders to spot the dangers inherent in the unit's environment and operations. In that accident, the flat ground in the bivouac area was used for sleeping tents and work sites. Numerous vehicles and trailers were parked on sloping terrain, often pointed directly at the tents and work areas. Wheel chocks were not used by the unit at the bivouac site. The soldier was working alone. A quick risk assessment would have alerted the commander that conditions existed which made the unit vulnerable to a potential accident.

The risk management process involves five steps:

• Identify risks: Think through the mission and identify specific risks associated with all tasks.
• Assess risks: Determine the likelihood and extent of accidental loss to personnel and equipment based on the risks identified.
• Make decisions and develop controls: Balance risk benefits against risk assessments and eliminate unnecessary risks. Control risks that cannot be eliminated but do not jeopardize the mission.
• Implement controls: Integrate specific controls into plans, orders, SOPs, training performance standards and rehearsals.
• Supervise: Enforce controls and standards.

Troop safety should be an ongoing, integrated program --that is, it should be alive to the extent that it is updated, refined and tailored to the missions and operations of the unit, including both garrison and field environments. Risk management is that part of the program that balances mission requirements with the hazards inherent in U. S. Army operations and training. It should address even the most mundane tasks where hazards are not always obvious or seem too routine to warrant special attention. For example: Backing a truck to load/off-load seems simple enough, but it is dangerous when done without a ground guide. At night, the hazard is intensified.

TROOP SAFETY LESSONS

• Troop safety is a leadership initiative. Commanders must integrate it into all unit activities.
• Focus on standards: Train to standard; enforce the standard. The degree of troop safety that exists within a unit reflects the commander's commitment to standards.
• The critical point of influence lies with first-line supervisors, primarily unit NCOs. They are the chain of command's last opportunity to ensure that safety is an integral part of the soldier's day-to-day activities.
• Unit officers and NCOs must train themselves to use risk management techniques to detect safety hazards and eliminate them where possible. Where hazards cannot be eliminated, leaders must take steps to reduce the danger. Record hazards as they are found and incorporate safety techniques and procedures into unit training and operations.
• An active troop safety program helps prevent accidents, preserve mission skills, and sustain unit fighting strength.

Table of Contents

Capabilities-based OPFOR

Acknowledgements