CAF’s statement

AIR Force has a Duty of Care and a moral obligation to manage and protect the safety of our most valuable asset – our people.

This stems from legislation – the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 – and from our Air Force values.

I am strongly committed to discharging the Duty of Care and this moral commitment, and require the same commitment from all commanders and personnel. That being said, personnel must manage their own safety as well as those for whom they have responsibility.

I have directed the establishment of an Air Force Safety Management System (called RAAFSAFE) to ensure Air Force compliance with legislation and Defence safety policies. As part of the development of this system:

• the RAAFSAFE Board, chaired by the Deputy Chief, has been formed,
• the Director of Flying Safety–ADF (DFS-ADF) has been additionally designated Director of Air Force Safety (DAFS),
• the Air Force Ground Safety Agency (AFGSA) formed in Apr 01, has been transferred to DAFS,
• AFGSA has been collocated with DFS-ADF, and
• 10 new safety positions have been established across Force Elements Groups and Bases to provide essential safety support to commanders and personnel.

The primary aim of DAFS, together with DAFGSA and DFS-ADF, is to promote Air Force safety and Defence aviation safety. Additionally, they provide guidance and advice on Air Force and aviation safety, manage the currency and applicability of the RAAFSAFE system, audit compliance with the requirements, seek improved practices for the prevention of incidents and accidents, and investigate occurrences to ensure Air Force learns from its experiences.

These initiatives are in accordance with the recommendations of the F111 Deseal/Reseal Board of Inquiry and align with my Duty of Care responsibilities for all Air Force personnel.

Military aviation operations, exercises and training by their nature must involve some level of risk to achieve success but our planning and execution must be thorough to ensure the risks are as low as reasonably practicable to achieve each mission.

As such, risk management is to be an essential part of our culture and business processes. In our current peacetime environment the loss of any of our people or an aircraft is not acceptable. In higher-risk military operations, we must control the risks and ensure we maintain our cultural perception of “can do safely”.

Our safety target is to actively seek to eliminate injury, illness and occurrences in the workplace that degrade Air Force’s preparedness and capability. Therefore we must:

• promote a strong Air Force mission, safety culture and safety program;
• identify, report and manage hazards, near misses and occurrences;
• apply Safety Risk Management (SRM) and Aviation Risk Management (AVRM) principles to identify, assess and control hazards associated with all Air Force activities;
• assign appropriate resources to implement the RAAFSAFE system and ensure resource shortfalls are reported via the chain of command;
• provide safety training for specific employment groups and specific safety management appointments, and ensure annual safety awareness training is provided for all personnel;
• ensure that effective safety committees and communication mechanisms are established at all levels within our area of responsibility and are operating effectively;
• comply with Defence accident/incident reporting and investigation requirements by impartially investigating all occurrences, learning from them and actively preventing their recurrence;
• include measurable safety goals and objectives into business plans and training directives, thereby maintaining visibility of safety performance across Air Force;
• ensure providers of goods and services to Air Force conform to legislative and Air Force safety requirements; and
• operate, maintain and modify equipment in accordance with authorised policy.

The importance of the health, safety and welfare of all Air Force people must not be underestimated.

A genuine commitment by all Air Force personnel to sound safety-management practices, as part of everyday management, combined with the establishment and maintenance of a structured and effective Air Force safety management system, will ensure that we are collectively best placed to achieve our mission.

Air Marshal A.G. Houston
December 20, 2002

 

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