Army Safety Center shifts focus to risk management

Army Logistician, May-June, 2005

The Army is changing its safety program to incorporate safety into the fabric of daily operations. As a part of this change, the Army Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, became the Army Combat Readiness Center (USACRC) in February. The organizational change is designed to advance the concept of composite risk management, which seeks to develop a fuller evaluation of potential dangers and thus create more effective risk mitigation. Composite risk management will focus on sustaining readiness and managing all risks--those posed by the enemy, the environment, materiel and systems, and human error by shifting from an accident-centric approach to a soldier-centric approach.

According to Brigadier General Joseph A. Smith, USACRC Commander, "The change is intended to move beyond the old concept of 'safety,' which had become viewed by many soldiers as an occasional action rather than a constant foundation for all other activities. In some cases, soldiers do not grasp the outcome of being unsafe until 'one of their own' is involved--recognizing, too late, the consequences of the accidental loss in making the unit less prepare& lowering its readiness, and potentially putting the unit mission at risk."

The Army Safety Office in Washington, D.C., will focus on the compliance aspects of safety and reinforce the use of composite risk management as a tool to help prevent all loss. USACRC will function as a field operating agency under the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army. Safety remains a foundational component of the new organization. The USARC mission includes--

* Investigating Army accidents.

* Initiating the necessary cultural changes and developing the processes, structure, and training needed to implement composite risk management Army wide.

* Developing predictive trend analysis using digital technology and data mining in order to identify loss trends and preventive measures.