Ethicality+Safety Vs. Regulations (Communications)

[AnonymousUser]

Hiya!

I am writing this because I have some questions I am not comfortable bringing to my squadron ES/Comms Officer. Please note I have been in comms for 2 1/2 years and I am a fully certified MRO and Close to CUL, Dang ICS Courses!   

As a Cadet Communications Officer I watch over the equipment because almost all the time the senior comms officer is not there. Recently there was an incident and it really pissed me off and I want your opinions.

We had a storm not long ago and a window was left open, keep in mind our setup is configured so the antenna connects through a second story window through the roof, which the window is right next to the radio and power supply.

What I did was I unplugged the radio and disassembled it. Took it out of the power supply so that no one would use it due to Water Damage. The power supply also got wet through vents and the wiring on the back to connect it to the power supply has exposed wires.

I got chewed out by my squadron communications officer for this. It irritates me because it was completely unsafe for operation and I was doing this for Ethical matters and Safety Matters.

ALONGSIDE THAT...

I was informed by a CUL At the State Level to conduct a SWR test due to the radio powering itself down on local channels (I.E. TAC Channels), Now this senior member is denying all of it and throwing me under the bus for it.

Opinions on what should be done?

(Oh, Even better, The radio has 0 Surge Protection.  )

Thanks!

[EMT-83]

Cadet Communications Officer. The key word being cadet.

As a cadet, you are not responsible for anything. If something seems amiss, report it through the chain of command.

The "CUL at the State Level" is not within your chain of command, and shouldn't be asking you to do anything.

I've always had heartburn with pretending that it's okay for cadets to perform functions which should be done by seniors. Now only if there were separate cadet and senior programs to prevent such confusion.

[AnonymousUser]

The issue with reporting it is the Senior Communications officer and the ES Officer do not listen to what I have to say and refuse to take action on it. If I left it plugged in and operational while it was wet, they could have very well gotten injured and at that point it would land on me because I knew about it and "didn't speak up". The only one who listens is the Squadron Commander and he supports my choice but I got chewed out for doing what I did by the Comms officer. Funny thing is he is greedy and signs out equipment so he can have it to himself, which sickens me.

[cnitas]

The issue with reporting it is the Senior Communications officer and the ES Officer do not listen to what I have to say and refuse to take action on it. If I left it plugged in and operational while it was wet, they could have very well gotten injured and at that point it would land on me because I knew about it and "didn't speak up". The only one who listens is the Squadron Commander and he supports my choice but I got chewed out for doing what I did by the Comms officer. Funny thing is he is greedy and signs out equipment so he can have it to himself, which sickens me.

EMT-83 gave you good advice.

The ES/Comm Officers and the commander have the responsibility to take care of the equipment and safety- not you.
If you see a problem then by all means speak up.  Please remember that all safety hazards should be reported immediately to someone with authority.

Taking your story at face value, it sounds like you missed some critical steps.  You did not not immediately inform the commander of a safety issue, you did not get approval for your safety mitigation efforts, and there was disagreement as to what should have been done by those who are responsible for the equipment.  Lean from this mistake and remember next time to get adult supervision engaged before executing your own plan.

[CAP9907]

You disassembled a CAP - issued radio??  I have to assume that you are an expert radio repair tech and had approval to do this, right?

And how is the Unit Comms Officer being 'greedy' by signing out Comms equipment to use??   That is his JOB after all!


I think that you may be getting caught up in your 'Cadet Comms Officer title': you are to assist as directed and learn from a Senior comms Officer, not do their job for them.

[SarDragon]

You disassembled a CAP - issued radio??  I have to assume that you are an expert radio repair tech and had approval to do this, right?

And how is the Unit Comms Officer being 'greedy' by signing out Comms equipment to use??   That is his JOB after all!


I think that you may be getting caught up in your 'Cadet Comms Officer title': you are to assist as directed and learn from a Senior comms Officer, not do their job for them.

I took it to say that he removed the radio from the power supply, a simple task involving some screws and a couple of connectors. There's certainly nothing critical there that a reasonably competent person cannot accomplish.

As for your second comment, the OP may have been talking about personal use, vice CAP use. We had a problem with that a while ago, here.

[etodd]

You gave enough details that anyone in your squadron will recognize it. Or maybe thats what you hoped for?

[lordmonar]

First off.

Cadet or not cadet an qualified MRO is responsible for the safe operations of the radio station.

So......Issue one.  You saw an unsafe condition, and you took action.   Good on you.

Questions:
1) Did you report this unsafe condition to your mission CUL?
2) Did you report this unsafe condition to your Comms Officer?

Second issue, as has been pointed out, the "state level cul" is not in your chain of command.
A SWR check for a malfunctioning radio IS NOT.....I SAY AGAIN......IS NOT an MRO level task.


Third issue,  What do you mean by "throwing you under the bus"?   Do you mean to say that some one higher up is mad about this issue and you are getting the blame.?  Or do you mean that you are getting in trouble for doing what you thought was the right thing?

In either case.    If you think you did right....then stand by your guns.   Tell the truth to your commander and let him/her do what is necessary.   If you think you are not being treated fairly by your chain of command you can always take it up the chain of command and/or make an IG complaint.

[CAP9907]

Umm... an IG complaint about what exactly? That he was 'chewed out'? He can file any complaint that he wants to, but it better have legs if he expects it to go anywhere..

to the author:

So you had a hot radio: one hooked up to power and it was wet, I'll use your own words:  " If I left it plugged in and operational while it was wet...."

So instead of reporting this and letting someone take action, you decided that touching "What I did was I unplugged the radio and disassembled it" was the best course of action? So you put yourself in the very same unsafe situation you were looking to avoid for others. Not safe at all!  How about reporting it and placing a sign "wet radio - shock hazard - do not touch" or something similar next to the unit? Do you not have a Unit Safety Officer? IMO, your judgment was faulty.

What about the state level CUL? Did he just come up to you and say "hey Cadet, please perform a SWR check on this unit"? Did he give you the equipment or any guidance on how to do that? I'm a MRO and sure don't know how to do that kind of test or what it entails. Operating out of your mandate and training seems to me...


About your Comms Officer being " Funny thing is he is greedy and signs out equipment so he can have it to himself, which sickens me". What exactly does he do that is greedy enough to sicken you? Does he have all the Units Comm gear in his car or at his house? And even if he did, is it possible that he is authorized by the Unit Commander to do this? Have you asked? Do you feel this equipment should be 'yours'?


"As a Cadet Communications Officer I watch over the equipment because almost all the time the senior comms officer is not there". OK, watching is fine, but you went far beyond that mandate by taking actions - actions that I argue were not within your scope of training and unsafe.


I am asking hard questions here because it looks like you created an account just to complain or air some dirty laundry - which is fine. But some of us older 'grey hairs' have proposed good questions and advice and you are short on facts but heavy on your feelings and personal observations. Just my opinions and YMMV.

First off.

Cadet or not cadet an qualified MRO is responsible for the safe operations of the radio station.

So......Issue one.  You saw an unsafe condition, and you took action.   Good on you.

Questions:
1) Did you report this unsafe condition to your mission CUL?
2) Did you report this unsafe condition to your Comms Officer?

Second issue, as has been pointed out, the "state level cul" is not in your chain of command.
A SWR check for a malfunctioning radio IS NOT.....I SAY AGAIN......IS NOT an MRO level task.


Third issue,  What do you mean by "throwing you under the bus"?   Do you mean to say that some one higher up is mad about this issue and you are getting the blame.?  Or do you mean that you are getting in trouble for doing what you thought was the right thing?

In either case.    If you think you did right....then stand by your guns.   Tell the truth to your commander and let him/her do what is necessary.   If you think you are not being treated fairly by your chain of command you can always take it up the chain of command and/or make an IG complaint.

[Live2Learn]

Cadet or not cadet an qualified MRO is responsible for the safe operations of the radio station.

So......Issue one.  You saw an unsafe condition, and you took action.   Good on you.

Agree.  "See Something, SAY Something" only has meaning if we (CoC) support it unconditionally. 

Once the equipment was unplugged AND placarded with an appropriate warning ("electocution possible - wet transformer") then the safety issue is at least initially contained.  There is no need to disassemble anything at this point.  It might be suggested to the Comm officer.

Next step:  Notify.  The Cadet said the Comm Officer was notified.

Next step:  Notify the Squadron Safety Officer (SSO) of a potential serious safety problem.  The SSO is a key element of this discussion and its resolution.   IAW CAPR 62-1 at 6. "Mishap Prevention. b. Hazard Reporting. The Hazard Report, available online at eServices, and/or FAA Form 8740-5, Safety Improvement Report, shall be used to report hazards ...." The SSO, as the Squadron Cmdr's principal staff responsible for assisting the Cmdr with meeting CAP safety objectives, should be brought into the conversation by the Comm officer, and if not by that individual, by the Cmdr if the Comm officer hasn't notified up chain of the issue.  It doesn't have to get all formal, but a mention in conversation with either of the wet transformer and unplugging it for safety reasons is a reasonable sharing of information.

[Luis R. Ramos]

When I post messages to others in the style I am seeing in this thread, I am told not to reprimand publicly. To send private messages.

Are those members being reminded of this?

[Spam]

You have a point for discussion, there Luis. Its not like you should reprimand privately via PM, though, and still follow CPPT guidance to always copy another senior member such as his commander when responding to an anonymous cadet. (Rule of 3).

Praise in public, check.
Correct in private, should not do 1:1 with cadets, and definitely should not do so via the internet.

So if you see what I mean, in a sense as uncomfortable as it seems, public criticism being public is at least serving the function here of ensuring that via the mods and peer review we aren't descending into abuse and harassment.


Personally, I think the respondents are giving this cadet some hard to hear, but generally pretty sound responses, and they are constructive ones to boot. "Briefing room rules": don't target thing (or take things) personally, but don't pull your punches to be nice when critiquing performance on safety issues. At least, that's my take.


R/S
Spam

[Brad]

In regards to disconnecting the radio due to water issues, the critical question becomes that of was the radio on at the time? If not, and if the power supply was already off as well, aside from disconnecting the antenna to prevent lightning surge, I would have simply left it alone. Electronics are perfectly fine wet as well as dry without electricity flowing through them. Example: you can indeed take a computer keyboard, run it through a dishwasher, let it dry completely, and it will work just as well as before you put it in there, and likely better due to all the trash being cleaned out.

That said, based on the information of exposed wiring, no surge protection, and the radio setup being somewhat exposed to the elements, it is possible the radio setup would be considered a violation of CAPR 100-1 section 7.2 in regards to safety. In that scope, by you seeing a potential safety issue, as a Cadet the best course of action would likely have been a simple mention to your Squadron Communications Officer, "Sir, shouldn't we disconnect the radio and power supply due to the weather?" This shows him that you both recognize the condition and yet know that you shouldn't be freelancing decisions such as that.

In regards to a CUL advising you to conduct an SWR test, this seems rather odd. Was this during a mission? Did the CUL advise where this instruction came from originally? If not, then a CUL being a mission staff role and not a duty position in and of itself, that only reinforces the fact that the CUL has no direct authority over you.

The burden is on the Squadron and Wing Communications Officers to be aware of and follow up on maintenance issues. Yes, Cadet Communications Officers and CULs can notify those officers of issues they discover, and should, but actively encouraging freelance troubleshooting and repair without having the responsibility to do so can be seen to be the same as you disconnecting that radio on your own. I get emails and texts all the time from my CULs about issues with radios, and if I know possible solutions I will advise them on how to proceed, but again that is because given my duty position to be responsible for the equipment and refer it to higher headquarters when needed. The role of a CUL not in a communications staff position on the other hand is limited to the scope of the mission and to see that the communications objective is accomplished, that's all.

Finally, if you feel that someone is abusing their position by improperly maintaining / accounting for equipment listed in ORMS, speak with your Squadron Communications Officer about it, because it could technically be considered a Fraud/Waste/Abuse concern for the IG, however without having more specific details there's no way to know for sure at this time from my perspective.