The Mobility Forum Dara Marlar

It is Aug. 13-18, 2021. The Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) airfield in Kabul, Afghanistan, is chaotic. All established essential airfield operations, including safety procedures and protocols, practically cease to exist. The civilians contracted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to run the essential airfield services have retrograded to a secure compound, leaving operations to in-place and incoming coalition militaries. Thousands of Afghanistan civilians have fled onto the airfield to escape the approaching Taliban forces, and militaries are making security calls that may differ from those of the U.S. Air Force leadership. Every safety threat studied by Airmen seems to arise.

One way the United States Air Force remains committed to keeping Airmen and Guardians safe in the workplace is by encouraging personnel and units to participate in events like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) weeklong national safety campaign, Safe + Sound Week, which ran from Aug. 15 to 21, 2022.

Have you ever stopped and wondered about the reasoning behind some of our procedures? Those procedures are there to ensure we properly operate the aircraft. They become our safety barriers. There are many procedures that we utilize while operating an aircraft, but briefings, checklists, cross-verification, and callouts represent some important procedural safety barriers.

Fatigue is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization as a “… physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental and/ or physical activity) that can impair a crew member’s alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety-related duties.” Between 2003-2018, 32 crew fatalities were associated with fatigue across the Air Force, with four fatalities attributed to the Mobility Air Force. Fatigue-related mishaps accounted for over $2.4 billion of medical and material costs. While only 4 percent of all mishaps had fatigue as a factor, these mishaps accounted for over 18 percent of the total cost. More than 25 percent of fatigue-related mishaps were Class A mishaps.

“There has never been a moment in history nor in national strategy that has called for language and cultural skills the way these skills are called for today,” said Mr. Howard Ward Jr., director of the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC) at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL.

AMC Safety Office of the Year(AMC-Level Award Only)628 ABW Safety OfficeJoint Base Charleston, SC AMC Safety Special Achievement Award60 AMW Safety OfficeTravis AFB, CA* AMC…

THE 628th AIR BASE WING (628 ABW) SAFETY OFFICE (SE) at Joint Base Charleston has been awarded the 2022 Air Mobility Command (AMC) Safety Office of the Year Award.

THE 60th AIR MOBILITY WING (60 AMW) SAFETY OFFICE, Travis Air Force Base (AFB), CA, earned the 2022 Air Mobility Command Safety Special Achievement Award.

MR. BILLY A. SEWELL, a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist for the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base (AFB), CA, has been awarded the Air Mobility Command (AMC) Safety Civilian Professional of the Year Award for his work in safeguarding AMC’s largest wing.

TSGT NICOLAS A. BARRENA, 627th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, has received the Battalion Risk Manager of the Year Award as well as the Air Mobility Command Safety Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of the Year Award.

MSGT MELINDA E. MARTINEZ, Wing Safety Superintendent, 89th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Andrews, MD, is the 2022 Air Mobility Command Safety Senior Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) of the Year. As the Wing Safety Superintendent, she directed three Flight Safety NCOs, 617 safety spot inspections, and 112 hazard abatement actions. She protected 78 aircraft across four wings.

CAPT LINNEA B. PUGH, Flight Safety Officer, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL), NJ, was named the 2022 Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) Safety Officer of the Year for 2022.