Mech: Gambling with maintenance never pays off

Every week, I review dozens of messages concerning mishaps around the fleet. Not all are aviation-related, but they all have a common thread: People are willing to gamble with their lives and the lives of others. They don't do this out of spite or bravado; they simply assume they won't cause a mishap or be involved in one.

Traveling throughout the fleet to complete safety surveys, we do several in-process assessments of Sailors and Marines as they complete everyday tasks. I constantly am amazed at the little things our people are NOT doing and the lack of justification for their inaction. A prime example of this apathy was found in a simple pre-operational inspection. Our in-process review too often goes like this: Maintainers go to great pains to check out the pre-operational checklist and then put it in their pockets, completing the inspection from memory, not the book. That scenario is bad enough, but the Sailor or Marine does the inspection from the memory gained from watching another Sailor or Marine.

This approach is similar to whispering something in one person's ear and passing the word down a line of 20 people. When the information is repeated to the last person, the message completely has changed from the original whisper. The real procedures get lost.

This observation doesn't apply only to the line division, although it does happen often with plane captains. I have witnessed people doing pre-operational inspections on tow tractors, and they miss the very first step: Open the gas cap, and make sure it is at least half full. This is only one example. When was the last time you did a fluid sample on a coolant-servicing unit? I actually had an LPO tell me one wasn't required, despite the fact we were looking at the step on the checklist, and it said to inspect the fluid.

PON-6 oil-servicing units often are found covered in oil or whatever fluid was used last. The first step of that checklist is to wipe down the unit. Hydraulic-servicing units (HSUs) typically have the same problem.

A quick review of past Mech magazine issues will provide numerous examples of failed equipment because someone didn't inspect it. For example, the winter 2002-2003 issue contains an article on the subject from one of my fellow analysts. The spring 2003 issue describes a wheel falling off a tow tractor because no one did a pre-operational inspection. When maintainers fail to complete mundane, everyday tasks, they gamble unnecessarily.

The second principle of operational risk management (ORM) says, "Take no unnecessary risks." Don't gamble your life and the lives of others through a shortcut or the failure to follow a simple checklist.

Senior Chief Funderburk was a maintenance analyst at the Naval Safety Center. He recently transferred to USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69).