E-Safety Newsletter

December 2010

Changes and Modifications - As I mentioned at the PA Wing conference, the National, Regional, and Pa Wing Safety Regulations are being changed and improved.  These changes are designed to improve the culture of Safety in the Nation and increase the awareness to safety items.  Below you will find an e-mail from the NER Director of Safety, which reflects the changes I mentioned at the Wing Conference and a little more of the changes that followed since then.  As you may be aware, a major change in any area, sometimes take a little more tweaking than originally thought and the modifications to the Safety Regulations are taking a little longer to complete.

What is Due within the next 30 days - Here isa short list of what is due.

1.    Annual Safety Survey - on-line only - due 31 Dec.

2.    Unit Safety Schedule - A list of your units scheduled safety briefings - due 15 Jan at Wing HQ. May be sent as an e-mail or regular mail.

3.    Unit Commander's Safety Policy - 15 Jan - If no change from last years, just send an email to Wing HQ stating "No Change"

Safety Message for the Month - Thereare several items that need to be mentioned during this time of the year. Christmas or Holiday lights need to be checked before you put them up.  Also use caution whenever you are using a ladder, don't over extend your reach. Get someone to hold the ladder or assist you with the lights.  If you have a live Christmas tree, make sure it is watered and kept away from any heat source. Think before doing anything involving extension cords, or outside lighting.

Let's also think about the winter driving conditions.  Has it been 9 months since you have driven on snow or ice, remember to take it easy until you and the other drivers on the road get used to the slippery conditions.  Is your vehicle ready for winter driving? Now is the time to check tires, anti-freeze, emergency kits

Here is the e-mail from the NER Director of Safety please read and review with your unit members and then also review the Power-Point I sent to all the Group commanders.

This e-mail will outline some of the basic changes in the Safety Program and how it will generally impact our personnel.  Please keep in mind that we are making initial tweaks based on the two formal Interim Change Letters (ICL) and then general guidance in the National Safety Newsletter.  Specific changes will come in the form of changes to CAPR 62-1/CAPR 62-2 at a future date and may require additional tweaks.  Updated NER policy letters will be forth coming. 

 Let's start with a quick review of what is on the horizon from both a local unit (squadron) perspective and a region HQ staff perspective.  

One ICL requires all current Active CAP members complete the Introduction to Safety Education Requirement by 31 Mar 2011.  NER is trying to meet this requirement by the end of January 2011.  So all must comply with this directive.

From a unit perspective, there isn't too much of a real change to the safety education program procedures.  NHQ has clarified the difference between Safety Education and Operational Risk Safety Briefings and the requirements for each.  From a firm requirement standpoint, unit safety officers still give monthly safety education but the "face-to-face" aspect has been relaxed. Mandatory Quarterly Face to Face is no longer required.  For a local unit with regular meetings this is really a no change situation, but for those with duties on wing/region staffs that don't physically meet together at the same location on a regulation (like weekly) basis this is a major step forward.

 A new change REQUIRES documentation for meeting Safety Education be put in e-Services--something NER HQ has been doing for months.  Tools have been implemented in e-Services to really help the local unit in accomplishing this task.  For your general knowledge here is a summary on how a typical unit's safety education session would work.  Prior to the meeting, the safety officer or commander prints a Safety Officer Sign-In Roster from e-Services for his/her unit before the session.  During the safety session, the members attending sign the sheet.  Note there are extra slots printed for extra members -- a perfect place for members visiting from another unit, e.g. NER HQ Staff.  After the safety education session, the safety officer/commander takes the sign-in sheet, logs in to e-Services, and records the meeting and those attending--including any CAP member visitors.  To make typical unit data entry easy, all the members of the unit show up on the e-Services entry screen and the safety officer just has to place a check mark against those that signed in.  Administratively, I estimate the administrative burden to be about 10 minutes for an experienced safety officer enter print the worksheets before a meeting AND then entire the attendees after.  IMPORTANT:  If you as a region staff member attend another unit's safety education session make sure the safety officer pays attention and enters your CAPID while entering the unit data so you get credit!!!!  There is a spot on the entry screen for CAPIDs of members who are NOT part of the unit.   

What this also means is that members need to be "safety current" in e-Services and quick reports can be run to see who has/has not completed their monthly requirement. While many members will stay safety current through attending normal monthly unit safety education sessions (the traditional "face-to-face" method) this method is no longer the only way to stay safety current.  Safety currency, by the way, runs to the last day of the month AFTER the month when the session was documented.  For example, if you attend a formal unit safety education session on 1 Dec 2010 that is properly entered into e-Services, you will be showing as "current" until 31 Jan 2011. 

Other methods of presentation are acceptable but they have to be related to CAP which as I see it is really wide open, and some form of comprehension measurement accomplished for the material.  NHQ has determined that simple e-mail receipts or "I have read the material" are no longer an acceptable method of meeting the requirement.  Therefore we need to change our approach in NER.  There is no way each month I am or expect a Safety Officer going to put out an online training session, write a test to measure comprehension and send it out to  people, grade exams that come back throughout the month, and then post the results to e-Services. Members can do alternative methods to meet the requirements but these must be verified. So for NER Staff members if you attend external meeting i.e. FAA, FEMA, AOPA, Course/Lecture etc. we need verification of this attendance. You need a copy of the roster or some form of Attendance verification. If you have this you need to scan it in and send it to me directly for recording using the on-line NER Compliance form. You can use the newsletters but you must qualify that you actually have reviewed these. You must comment in your own words on the material you have reviewed using the NER on-line form. The same is true for Local Units in that if your members perform an alternate means of meeting the Safety compliance you must verify attendance and compliance.

There is already and automated alternative for all members which is the easiest way to comply if they can't make a meeting. NHQ is now putting online different safety modules that DO meet their standards AUTOMATICALLY.  If you log in to e-Services on the left side and select ONLINE SAFETY EDUCATION it will take you to all the available online safety education training modules. It will also reflect your Safety Compliance activities. When you take a module, complete the test (with a passing score) and the system will record it, you will AUTOMATICALLY be credited in the system with completing a safety education session and therefore remain current.  More Training will be added as time goes on so that there will always be an option to meet the requirement.  Caution should be stressed to all Members is for them to not be an overachiever and complete them all at once because once taken, they will lock out and you can't take it again for 6 months.  This prevents a member from taking the same module every month for currency.   

The ICL also discusses the requirement for Operational Risk Safety Briefings.  These are "in-person" (which is slightly different than "face-to-face") safety briefings held in conjunction with each activity.  No documentation is officially required as these briefings will vary depending on the specific event and can be tailored to the structure, timing and duration of the event.  For example, the safety briefing prior to a cadet squadron participating in a 3-hr unit swimming activity may be totally different than those used at a 3-day SAREX training event.  The first event may be a 5 minute informal stand-up briefing, where the latter may include ICS 215A forms, safety boards, handouts, daily briefings, etc.

The requirement for you to be safety current is YOUR responsibility.  With that said, if you are having technical issues during the transition phase to the new process, I will be glad to help.  Note also we don't expect that the region staff be routinely be using non-CAP safety meetings for credit.  I really prefer not having to enter the data manually for Staff members but if other methods are used then formal documentation of attendance is required, and then a manual entry needs to be made in e-Services in which I really would prefer not having to do. 

For all I should also add NHQ is looking at AUTOMATICALLY importing FAA WINGS and other agency credit over to CAP -- more to follow in that regards.   

Review last month's Beacon (that includes the two ICLs) because there are several questions and answers pertaining to the new procedures. 

If you still have questions, feel free to ask.  

Paul E Mondoux, Lt Col
Director of Safety Northeast Region, CAP

 Questions - Contact me or your unit safety officer or group safety officer.