Risk Management Magazine

When deciding if PPE is required, management must first complete a workplace assessment to determine whether hazards exist that require the use of PPE and provide a written certification that identifies the hazards within the workplace. After determining that a hazard exists, controlling it at its source is the best way to protect employees.

There are good reasons emergency procedures (EPs) are developed, committed to memory and rehearsed before conducting training or combat operations. The moment an emergency occurs is not the time to become creative or develop a better way to handle the situation. As a Type A personality, I made the mistake of modifying a procedure while in the middle of an emergency, and it could have cost me dearly.

Under night vision goggles (NVGs), none of us could tell the area I picked was going to be soft, deep sand that grabbed us by the wheels the second we touched down. As the aircraft abruptly stopped, all of us were thrown forward and caught by our harnesses, except one crew chief.