Safety

Coast Guard responds to natural gas well fire off of Louisiana coast

By Toni Rico on July 24, 2013 Coast Guard, Navy, Safety

The Coast Guard is enforcing a safety zone around a drilling rig that is on fire after a natural gas well blowout Tuesday morning about 55 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A good Samaritan vessel rescued 44 people from the rig when the blowout occurred, a Coast Guard spokesman said. No injuries were reported. Gas escaping from the well at the Hercules 265 rig caught on fire Tuesday night after the initial morning incident, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported in its website. “No one was on board at the time of the ignition and no one…

Sleep deprived? Join the club

By Gidget Fuentes on April 27, 2012 Health, Life at Sea, Navy, Safety

Apparently it’s not just the Navy that has a sleep problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41 million American workers aren’t getting enough Zzzzs. That’s nearly one in three workers. “Not surprisingly, workers who work the night shift are more likely to not get enough sleep,” according to Dr. Sara Luckhaupt of the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, who authored the study. Those workers pulling more than 40 hours on the job each week also are more apt to get less sleep than what medical experts say is needed to stay alert, avoid…

Very close call

By Joshua Stewart on October 5, 2011 Carriers, Navy, Safety, Video

You could just as easily be reading an article about two George Washington sailors who were killed on the carrier’s flight deck. While there was certainly a few sky-high heart rates and a couple of strings of profanity, everything turned out fine after the sailors wandered onto the deck as an F/A-18 Hornet approached for landing. Whoever decided to wave the plane off undoubtedly went to bed knowing that they earned their pay. The video is from Sept. 25 while GW was on scheduled patrol in the Pacific. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVbNRsDxPU4[/youtube]

Keep it safe this weekend

By Bill McMichael on September 2, 2011 Alcohol abuse, Naval Safety Center, Navy, Safety, Sexual assault prevention and response

Let’s get straight to the point: one sailor and one Marine died during Labor Day weekend 2010, and 52 sailors and Marines were injured, some of them seriously, in motor vehicle mishaps or off-duty activities, according to the Naval Safety Center. Most, the Safety Center says, were completely preventable had proper risk management practices been followed. This annual three-day weekend begs for some party time. In its 2011 Labor Day Weekend Briefing Points, the Safety Center asks sailors and Marines to remember that if alcohol is on the menu — there won’t be many parties where it’s not, right? –…

Ike's return is on track

By Bill McMichael on July 14, 2011 Aviation, Carriers, Flight deck certification, Maintenance, Maritime operations, Navy, Photos, Safety, Shipyard, Unmanned carrier landing

The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is enjoying a noteworthy and productive post-availability period at sea. On July 2, Ike, operating off the Atlantic coast, was the scene of the first fully hands-free carrier landing as an F/A-18D modified to emulate the in-development X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft touched down under control of an onboard computer network linked to the plane. The aircraft was manned in case something went wrong, but the pilot kept his hands off the controls, the Navy told my colleague Joshua Stewart. See his story in the July 18 Navy Times. Four days later, the carrier…

Saving lives this summer

By Bill McMichael on May 20, 2011 Liberty, Marine Corps, Mishaps, Naval Safety Center, Navy, Personnel, Safety

Announcements of annual safety campaigns may for many go in one ear and out the other, but the Naval Safety Center’s summer campaign, which officially begins Memorial Day weekend, is an opportunity for Navy leaders to hit the deckplates and hammer home the message that it’s possible to have fun without taking life-threatening risks. Last summer was the Navy’s safest on record. Still, 14 sailors and 14 Marines lost their lives in motor vehicle and recreational mishaps. That was a big improvement over the five-year average of 44 total off-duty deaths each summer. But still … Leaders can find all…

Getting safer

By Bill McMichael on March 29, 2011 Class A mishaps, Liberty, Naval aviation, Naval Safety Center, Navy, Personnel, Photos, Physical training, Privately owned vehicles, Safety, Shore duty, Statistics

Officials have to be encouraged at the trend toward a safer on- and off-duty Navy, indicated by near-mid-year Naval Safety Center statistics. We type those words with a big “knock on wood,” of course. But with the fiscal year — which began Oct. 1 — nearly halfway gone, it’s looking like the Navy is shaping up, safety-wise — at least in terms of major mishaps, and on- and off-duty deaths. Check the trends for the fiscal year through March 23, referred to in the following as “at this point”: Class A afloat mishaps: two this year compared to four a…

Safe start to the fiscal year is good news

By Bill McMichael on November 9, 2010 Navy, Physical training, Safety

One sailor has lost his life — outside of combat — so far in fiscal year 2011, which began Oct. 1. Any such loss — this one occurred during a physical training-related incident in late October — is tragic. But it’s the only one so far. And that’s a big improvement over the same period last year, the Naval Safety Center’s April Phillips says. After the first two months of fiscal year 2010, the Navy had already seen three on-duty fatalities, five personal motor vehicle fatalities and one off-duty recreational death. The Safety Center does not track fatalities caused by…

Then start screaming

By Bill McMichael on October 26, 2010 Blogs, Navy, Photos, Safety

No, not a Halloween post — although Slide No. 4 in the Naval Safety Center’s “Signs of the Times” Vol. 6 contains elements of a good ol’, cheezy horror flick: Revenge of the Crocodilians! The slide show (http://safetycenter.navy.mil/ — midpage, “Signs of the Times #6, a PowerPoint doc) is a collection of similarly bad yet humorous or tongue-in-cheek signage that underlines the importance of labeling hazards clearly and effectively — and taking even official-looking warnings (at least, the civilian versions) with a grain of salt. It’ll take a few seconds to download with a good connection, but it’s worth it.

Browsing: Safety