Jan Safety Beacon -- what do these articles have to do with CAP safety?

Started by RiverAux, January 08, 2012, 01:24:32 AM

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RiverAux

Okay, I've been meaning to talk about the articles being put in the Safety Beacon for quite a while.  It seems like 25% or so of each issue are devoted to safety issues with little or no direct bearing on CAP.  But, the Jan. 2012 issue goes way beyond that:
http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/January_2012__Beacon_95F896ADFF1BD.pdf

Can you guess which are the offending articles in this issue?  Should be simple enough.

1.  A generic article about a CAP unit copied out of the AOPA Aviation Brief (incidentally, an "acting commander" for 3 years?  Really?).

2.  An article about the Congressional Gold Medal efforts for WWII CAP members.  Not only does it have nothing to do with safety, it misleadingly implies that the medal is only going towards coastal patrol pilots rather than anyone who served in CAP at all.

Besides those having absolutely nothing to do with safety, we also have several articles about safety, but having nothing to do with CAP.  For example, the articles on heating your home and stress.  With only a little effort they probably could have turned the heating article into something specific to CAP.  For example, for those units with their own buildings, have they had the recommended maintenance and inspections done of their HVAC system?

As far as I can tell, in the 11 page newsletter there isn't an original piece of CAP-generated content.  It is all copied from someone else with no attempt to adapt it to make explicit sense to CAP except for one paragraph on the last page saying how great the CAP safety program is.   

And then of course there was the front page headline news article in the December issue focused on holiday decorating safety and  another article on heating system safety.

Eclipse

This has been a whine of mine for a long time - these newsletters should be focused on their specific lane and within a CAP context.

For everything else we have the Allstate Mayhem guy.

"That Others May Zoom"

Spaceman3750

Quote from: Eclipse on January 08, 2012, 01:31:15 AMFor everything else we have the Allstate Mayhem guy.

We should pay that guy to do some CAP safety videos. They'd be good! >:D

RiverAux

Quote from: Spaceman3750 on January 08, 2012, 02:14:39 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on January 08, 2012, 01:31:15 AMFor everything else we have the Allstate Mayhem guy.

We should pay that guy to do some CAP safety videos. They'd be good! >:D

Well, we could follow the strategy apparently being used by the NHQ safety folks and just play one of his Allstate commercials as is and let the members try to figure out what it has to do with CAP safety.   :'(

Eclipse


"That Others May Zoom"

Extremepredjudice

All of my squadron's safety briefs are based on the safety beacon... ::)
And alot of awkward nodding and concerned looks.

I've noticed most of it has nothing to do with CAP.

Now that I know NOT to burn my house down with decorations I guess I'm current in safety, so I can now go on ES missions. The decorations thing will help when I'm looking for a downed aircraft.

Oh well, it isn't like my squadron ever does ES. Or anything else productive.
I love the moderators here. <3

Hanlon's Razor
Occam's Razor
"Flight make chant; I good leader"

Spaceman3750

Quote from: Extremepredjudice on January 08, 2012, 06:29:08 AMNow that I know NOT to burn my house down with decorations I guess I'm current in safety, so I can now go on ES missions. The decorations thing will help when I'm looking for a downed aircraft.

In all fairness, you should be getting an ES safety brief at least twice at a mission - once by the MSO in the general briefing (assuming your team doesn't release remotely), and again by your GTL in the sortie briefing.

NCRblues

Quote from: Spaceman3750 on January 08, 2012, 06:48:14 AM
Quote from: Extremepredjudice on January 08, 2012, 06:29:08 AMNow that I know NOT to burn my house down with decorations I guess I'm current in safety, so I can now go on ES missions. The decorations thing will help when I'm looking for a downed aircraft.

In all fairness, you should be getting an ES safety brief at least twice at a mission - once by the MSO in the general briefing (assuming your team doesn't release remotely), and again by your GTL in the sortie briefing.

Now, will the MSO or the GTL be covering the holiday "outdoor illumination" safety? >:D
In god we trust, all others we run through NCIC

Spaceman3750

Quote from: NCRblues on January 08, 2012, 06:53:28 AM
Quote from: Spaceman3750 on January 08, 2012, 06:48:14 AM
Quote from: Extremepredjudice on January 08, 2012, 06:29:08 AMNow that I know NOT to burn my house down with decorations I guess I'm current in safety, so I can now go on ES missions. The decorations thing will help when I'm looking for a downed aircraft.

In all fairness, you should be getting an ES safety brief at least twice at a mission - once by the MSO in the general briefing (assuming your team doesn't release remotely), and again by your GTL in the sortie briefing.

Now, will the MSO or the GTL be covering the holiday "outdoor illumination" safety? >:D

If the GT's tasking is to establish and decorate a forward operating base or tactical repeater site >:D.

SarDragon

Safety in our lives is not restricted to just out CAP participation. It applies 24/7. I see nothing wrong with pointing out day-to-day or seasonal safety issues in our safety 'rag'. It's hard tobe a useful member if you've banged yourself up doing homeowner stuff while not on CAP time.

The Navy safety magazines have non-work related articles almost every month, because it was in the best interest of the Navy to keep everyone safe 24/7. A significant amount of down time can be attributed to off duty safety incidents.Why should CAP be different? I'll bet the AF has a similar approach.

Go here: http://www.public.navy.mil/navsafecen/Pages/messages/alsafe.aspx

It's a compilation of the weekly Naval Safety Center mishap report summaries. Read them. You'll see that many of the mishaps described in the messages are NOT work related.

In fact, use them for safety briefings. They are actually entertaining, in a morbid way.


Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

RiverAux

Quote from: SarDragon on January 08, 2012, 09:23:46 AM
Safety in our lives is not restricted to just out CAP participation. It applies 24/7. I see nothing wrong with pointing out day-to-day or seasonal safety issues in our safety 'rag'. It's hard tobe a useful member if you've banged yourself up doing homeowner stuff while not on CAP time.
When CAP starts paying my bills they will have a right to force me to spend time on safety issues having nothing to do with CAP.  I have stayed in CAP knowing that I will have to put up with our silly safety meetings, online courses, etc. and I'm fine with that so long as they remain focused on safety issues involving CAP activities. 

Obviously NHQ has run out of things to discuss in regards to CAP safety and are just looking for things to fill the time they have mandated we spend on safety (BTW, the online safety briefs are just as bad in not being related to CAP in many cases). 

How about reducing the time we have to spend on safety to that actually needed to cover CAP safety topics and letting us do something more CAP productive with the time saved?

Al Sayre

I find that this:  http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/ and this: http://www.newsoftheweird.com/

are a very use resource for safety briefings...
Lt Col Al Sayre
MS Wing Staff Dude
Admiral, Great Navy of the State of Nebraska
GRW #2787

Brad

Well a quick read of the table of contents on the first page tells me that the newsletter is divided into two sections. First is "republished articles" i.e. articles from some other source that are being republished in the newsletter for their relevance in the subject matter. Granted I agree about the non-sequitur of the CGM article, but other than that I don't see an issue with the articles. They still are safety matters that we need to be aware of.

The second part is "Civil Air Patrol articles", that is, original articles or material submitted by CAP....in this case it is the propeller that struck the ground (which common-sense tells me it is a CAP aircraft based on what section it is in) and the article about the addition of NST interaction.

See? Doesn't have to be strictly CAP-written articles to still be relevant to CAP.
Brad Lee
Maj, CAP
Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Communications
Mid-Atlantic Region
K4RMN

Extremepredjudice

Quote from: SarDragon on January 08, 2012, 09:23:46 AM
Safety in our lives is not restricted to just out CAP participation. It applies 24/7. I see nothing wrong with pointing out day-to-day or seasonal safety issues in our safety 'rag'. It's hard tobe a useful member if you've banged yourself up doing homeowner stuff while not on CAP time.

The Navy safety magazines have non-work related articles almost every month, because it was in the best interest of the Navy to keep everyone safe 24/7. A significant amount of down time can be attributed to off duty safety incidents.Why should CAP be different? I'll bet the AF has a similar approach.

Go here: http://www.public.navy.mil/navsafecen/Pages/messages/alsafe.aspx

It's a compilation of the weekly Naval Safety Center mishap report summaries. Read them. You'll see that many of the mishaps described in the messages are NOT work related.

In fact, use them for safety briefings. They are actually entertaining, in a morbid way.
sir,

You have to be safety current to go on a mission. If that safety is about decorations, how will it help me be safe while searching for an ELT?
I love the moderators here. <3

Hanlon's Razor
Occam's Razor
"Flight make chant; I good leader"

SARDOC

You being safe in your everyday activities benefits Civil Air Patrol as an organization.  Even if it's about your holiday lights in your home.  If something you learned in a safety brief protects you or your family wouldn't you think it was beneficial?  Preventing injuries among our members keeps members healthy and actively participating in the promotion of all of our missions.  Just by providing a safety brief to our membership makes it CAP Related.

The health and safety of our members should be a concern to all of us.  CAP specific Briefings should be included but so should topics that are trending.  Your safety is important to us whether you are on CAP duty or off.  Our people are among our resources as an organization.

SARDOC

Quote from: Extremepredjudice on January 08, 2012, 06:06:16 PM
You have to be safety current to go on a mission. If that safety is about decorations, how will it help me be safe while searching for an ELT?

If your House burns down because your holiday decorations caused a fire.  I'm betting at a minimum, provided you survived, you would most likely not be available for that ELT mission.


Christmas Tree Fire Safety

RiverAux

Quote from: SARDOC on January 08, 2012, 07:31:09 PM
If your House burns down because your holiday decorations caused a fire.  I'm betting at a minimum, provided you survived, you would most likely not be available for that ELT mission.
If I lose my job and can no longer afford to pay my dues will CAP be providing job training so that they don't lose my ability to participate in ES missions?

ol'fido

Well, will someone with a greater knowledge of Flight Ops or Safety please explain to me the purpose of the recent GLR edict that a streamer marked "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" be affixed to the tail of parked CAP aircraft no matter where they are other than to "Remove" the streamer before flying. Seems kind of pointless to affix a red streamer to an aircraft with a "BIG" RED TAIL.

Am I missing something here?  ???
Lt. Col. Randy L. Mitchell
Historian, Group 1, IL-006

Eclipse

My guess was that it forces a walk-around and indicates anyone who doesn't do it.

"That Others May Zoom"

EMT-83

Quote from: Eclipse on January 09, 2012, 12:05:43 AM
My guess was that it forces a walk-around and indicates anyone who doesn't do it.

Any bets on how long that will take?