1. May 2011
What Would You Have Done?
The set-up: It’s Thursday night and two mechanics who worked all day
(from 0700-1700) plan to drive through rush-hour traffic to party at a club
that is at least two hours away.
Question #1: Supposing this was your plan, what that they can report to work at 0700. Even though
do you think of it? the driver hasn’t been drinking, he feels sleepy. He
Now assume that these Sailors work directly for pulls over to rest at 0400. However, feeling pressured
you. In fact, they are among your best workers. They to get back to work on time, they get back on the
have been making this road trip once a week for road at 0445 without getting any meaningful rest. At
three months, and nobody has said anything about it. some point, the driver falls asleep and loses control.
The car crashes. The driver isn’t buckled up and is
Question #2: As a supervisor, what do you think of killed. The passenger (who was wearing his seatbelt)
their plan? survives with injuries.
You decide to discuss their plan with them. They
assure you that one of them will be the designated Question #7: How does the loss of two of your best
driver and that they’ll stop to rest if necessary. workers affect your team?
You have just lost two of your best performers,
Question #3 and #4: Do these risk controls make and it will take some time before BUPERS details
you feel better about their plan? Can you do any- new personnel into your command. As the supervi-
thing to improve their chance of success? sor, it’s not just a workload and mission issue (others
Here’s another factor. Work tempo at the com- are going to pick up the tasking, which increases
mand has been high, and they have had a total of just their risks) that you are going to have to deal with.
15 hours of sleep during the previous three days. Work-center morale and family concerns of the lost
members are going to complicate the situation that
Questions #5 and #6: What do you think of their you must address.
plan now? Do you see any red flags?
The event: They stay at the club until 0300, hav- Questions #8, #9 and #10: What does it say
ing a great time. They start to drive back to base so about the culture of a command when personnel

2. think that they can party all night, getting little Let’s assume that these Sailors weren’t afraid to
or no sleep, and still be able to do skilled, techni- call their supervisor to confess that they would be
cal work the next day? What risk does this pose late. Using the A-B-C-D mnemonic, they could have:
to the command’s mission? Do you think these
Sailors understood ORM? ● Assessed the plan at the point where they
They apparently felt bullet-proof. They had were too tired to drive.
done some planning and had had the same routine ● Balanced Resources by getting a hotel room
for three months. The hazards of driving while or stopping in the car for a longer rest period.
fatigued, driving impaired, sometimes not wear- ● Communicated with their supervisor (an-
ing seatbelts and ending up not fit for duty the other resource, via a cellphone call or text)
next day were all additional risks that weren’t that they would be late and would make up for
adequately controlled. Their execution of their the lost work.
“plan” wasn’t as routine as they had thought. ● Debriefed, after the event, by discussing how
Time Critical Risk Management would have been to better plan this event in order to have con-
appropriate to use and should have come into play trolled the known risks, so that no last-minute
for both the Sailors and their supervisor. phone calls would have been necessary.
DISCUSSION POINTS
● As a supervisor, what could you do in your span of control to improve these Sailors’
risk management? What could leadership do in terms of effectively teaching Sailors
how to balance work and play, and how to make sensible plans as a result?
● Why was there not some kind of command “trip wire” for leadership to provide to
their Sailors under circumstances like these?
RESOURCES AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
● Have a Leave or Special Liberty Chit stashed for just such an emergency, so that per-
sonnel are covered (to some extent) if they are late. This doesn’t mean they’ll evade any
repercussions, but you are protecting them.
● Establish a phone tree so personnel know who to call when their plans aren’t working.
● Identify rest areas or lodging that can be easily accessed.
● Modify work hours so that Sailors can drive during daylight. Offer earlier secure to
avoid rush-hour traffic, thereby reducing driving time, or a late report the next day. It’s
better to lose a few hours from people than to lose the people.
● Duty driver.
● Different liberty schedule.
BY DEREK NELSON, HEAD MEDIA DIVISION
Supervisors: Use this page to guide safety discussions with your personnel
Send your feedback to: safe-mediafdbk@navy.mil
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