Team to play it safe

SAFETY is of paramount importance to the ADO – that was the message stressed by Chief of Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove in his address to the Defence Strategic Direction Seminar, Preserving our Capability – Managing the Risks to People’s Wellbeing.

The purpose of the seminar, held in August, was to develop a direction and framework for Defence safety with a focus on preserving ADO capability and managing the risks to people’s wellbeing.

GEN Cosgrove spoke of the importance of developing a Defence safety team. He recognised there were many motivated players in the safety arena but their efforts were often service and group oriented and did not represent a coordinated Defence approach.

As a result, he said safety management was often fragmented with many players not being aware of other safety initiatives. The safety team he envisaged would draw together all players. He stressed that the team needed to focus closely on two areas – leadership behaviour and developing a Defence-wide safety system.

Other key speakers at the seminar, including the Acting Secretary Mick Roche and Vice-Chief of the Defence Force Vice-Admiral Russ Shalders, re-emphasised the need for leaders at all levels to be committed to safety.

Mr Roche highlighted the personal, fiscal and capability costs of not having an effective safety management system.

“On any given day, at least 2050 (or 4.1 per cent) full-time, uniformed personnel are unfit to deploy because of injury. Injured personnel are up to 10 times more likely to separate prematurely from the ADF, and up to seven times as likely to sustain further injury,” Mr Roche said.

VADM Shalders stressed that leaders needed to be aware that safety was a function of their command and leadership and a balance must be maintained between capability and safety. “We must focus on the way we conduct operations and deliver and support capability if we are to improve safety,” he said.

Air Force representatives included Air Commodore Noel Schmidt, Director General Technical Airworthiness, Air Commodore Graham Bentley, Director General Policy and Planning – Air Force and Wing Commander, Peter Wood Deputy Director Flying Safety.

AIRCDRE Schmidt said the ADF had been tested against civil safety regulations and been found wanting.

“The future Defence safety framework must show an understanding of and cross-link to federal and state safety regulations. Importantly, the framework must address how these regulations are applied within an organisation,” he said.

“The framework must also be supported by competent authorities that sign off on safety solutions in a similar way to signatories formally specified for technical solutions in the aviation environment.”

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