Risk Management Magazine

Winter was in full swing at Forward Operating Base Speicher, but the sky was clear. I could still see the sun and feel a sense of warmth; however, once reality kicked in, the air was chilly even at mid-day. My unit was on the last leg of a yearlong deployment, and the overall morale of my fellow Soldiers was high.

As evening approached, the crews were preparing for their night vision goggle (NVG) training mission. The task was to conduct readiness level (RL) progression for hoist operations. As the crew adjusted their NVGs and cranked the UH-60, they had no idea a routine litter hoist training mission would result in something much more.

On-the-job accidents, such as the ones described above, are all preventable. The key is for management to develop and implement a LOTO program that clearly delineates the standards and ensures those standards are strictly enforced at all worksites within the organization.