MAJ. GEORGE FLYTHE
Joint Force Headquarters
North Carolina Army National Guard
Raleigh, North Carolina
Mundane tasks are hurting Soldiers. The Army expects us to do the same or more with less time and resources, which negatively affects unit morale, retention and even safety. Laundry lists of tasks continue to pile on and, unfortunately, leaders may forget or choose to skip important steps, such as risk management, in the planning process. This came back to bite my unit when the routine task of reorganizing a storage container turned into a partial finger amputation – a Class B mishap.
A month following our Exportable Combat Training Center rotation, my unit began the recovery phase of the operation. Company leaders tasked two Soldiers to inventory and reorganize stacks of transit boxes inside a small CONEX. During the mid-August heat, these Soldiers became increasingly fatigued and began to rush themselves to finish the housekeeping project. While stacking items, one of the boxes became wedged against the side of the container and did not nest properly on top of another box. The Soldier told his partner to move so he could muscle it into place. Before she could clear out of the way, he jerked the box. Her hand slipped from the handle, catching her fingertip on a clip and amputating it at the first knuckle.
The state conducted a safety investigation board and found that the unit failed to conduct deliberate risk management in preparation for this recovery event. Had leaders taken the time to conduct this critical step, they may have planned proper work/rest cycles, enforced personal protective equipment (PPE) use and assigned enough personnel to properly move each box, which weighed 130 pounds each and required a four-person lift. Additionally, these Soldiers did not have enough room to perform the task safely, as they were crammed inside a small container that was stacked wall to wall with equipment.
The board also determined that gloves may have provided enough protection to prevent the Soldier’s finger from getting pinched in the clip — or at least lessened the severity of the injury. Thankfully, an adjacent unit in the same building housed the battalion’s medical personnel, and they provided quick and calm care for the injured Soldier. Unfortunately, despite proper and immediate care, the trauma surgeon could not reattach the fingertip.
We cannot afford to only conduct risk management for what we perceive as high-risk training events. We must also include those mundane tasks like mission preparation or equipment download. To downplay the importance of risk management during routine tasks is accepting unnecessary risk — a potentially fatal flaw in a lack of safety culture.
This traumatic event haunted all those involved, especially the Soldier who rushed to move the box into place. The Army already gives our Soldiers a full plate of tasks to complete each training day, which comes with its own set of stress. They don’t need the additional stress of regret. Skipping risk management rushed the unit to failure and impacted at least one Soldier for the rest of her life. We can do better for our Soldiers.