Research About Civilian And Military Safety Fatalities (Essay Sample)

Military and Civilian Safety Fatalities in Comparison
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There are marked differences in the levels of safety fatalities for the military and civilians. This paper will research in depth the issues surrounding incident safety fatalities between the two groups through a literature review of documented sources on the topic. This paper will also showcase results from various reports on incident levels and compare them with results from the questionnaires conducted in order to establish the differences in the rates of incidents and as such, define and explain the discrepancies in the rates of incident safety. Drawing from the analysis of the presented data and information, the paper will provide recommendations that will help to improve the research process and the findings of the report.
Introduction
Safety in all sectors of life is an important requirement for the wellbeing of humankind. Greater emphasis is given to the safety of employees in various departments and at different levels in order to comply with the US safety regulations. Safety is an even more important requirement in the military department because of the nature of the work done by the military. There have been and continue to be debates on which between the two (civilian and military institutions) is more secure as far as safety is concerned. It would be a common assumption or observation that military institutions have more elaborate safety measures than civilian institutions. However, reports have emerged to show that military personnel incur higher rates of safety incidents and fatalities as compared to civilian populations. Knowledge of the causes and nature of disparities in safety for the two groups of people is important in enabling policy makers to influence the adoption of rules and regulations that will help to improve safety and reduce the rates of fatalities among the persons represented.
Safety fatalities are a common occurrence in everyday life, both in America and other parts of the world. However, there exists a discrepancy in safety fatalities between members of the military and civilians at various capacities, a feature that has called attention to determining the nature and even explain the reason for the disparities. Two major factors what one thinks of whenever issues of safety fatalities in the military members and among civilians come into mind are human error or mechanical error. It is important to investigate both of these factors in detailed manners and whether they apply to the two groups in order to determine ways that such safety can be improved.
Knowledge of these discrepancies is also important as a measure to increasing the safety and well-being of military servicemen and civilians in various dimensions, including the aviation industry, roads, and even in waterways.
Literature Review
There are limited number of reports available to show the preference for safety incidents on the internet and in other published materials. The information in these material points to some common trends on the preference for safety incidents and fatalities between the military and civilian populations. An analysis of the information contained in these documents indicates that military personnel are more likely to incur safety fatalities than their civilian counterparts in over 90% of the incidents investigated. One area where civilian and military populations are exposed to safety incidents is that of air travel. The military use air travel for their various operations while the civilian populations travel by air for personal reasons including business and luxury among others. In a research done through the years 2011 and 2015, reports indicate that safety incidents among military personnel were higher than those among the civilian populations. There are a number of reasons that can explain this trend.
Various organizations and institutions in the US have carried out research to determine the discrepancy in safety fatalities between military and civilians on varied platforms in the country. One such area is in the aviation industry. This area is an important point of analysis given the frequent use of air travel for the military and the civilians as well. Bruce (2010) acknowledges the fact that in the last half a century, governments and industry players have worked to improve the safety of the aviation industry. However, such drastic efforts to increase safety have reduced to asymptotic levels, meaning that aviation accident rates may not be reduced further below the current rates. Further analysis of aviation accidents reveals that a large number of the accidents are caused by human error, thus begging the question as to whether human error can be further reduced in order to improve aviation safety for both military and civilian populations. Besides, understanding the extent to which human error is responsible for aviation safety will help one to understand the nature and extent of discrepancies between military and civilian safety fatalities in the civilian industry.
Level number one for aviation accidents is further divided into two major categories. The first category is that of errors done by air crew. The second category is that of violations of laid down procedures as committed by the air crew. Errors are generally deemed to be unintentionally committed while violations are perceived to be committed willfully in disregard of the rules and regulations laid down for the aviation industry. Errors can be further divided into those based on skill, decisions, and perceptions (Shappell & Wiegmann, 2001)
Errors based on skill occur in the routine of the operator’s regular execution. This means that in some cases, an operator may fail to observe due care when executing such tasks. Errors emerge in such a case and the results can be fatal in as far as safety is concerned. For instance, an operator may fail to take note of a missing item in the checklist or fail to prioritize his attention to a certain issue that may be of importance at the time. Such an error can have dire consequences for both civilian and military aviation processes.
Decision errors occur when the operator behaves or acts in accordance with the required intentions, but such an action proves to be inadequate or inappropriate in achieving the desired outcome. Lastly, perception errors occur when the sensory ability of the operator is degraded and as such, he makes a decision based on the faulty information he processes. For instance, an operator may suffer from a hearing condition that hinders effective hearing and thus, makes a decision on faulty information (Layoun, 2001).
Violations, on the other hand, are willfully performed by the operator for various reasons. Routine violations are performed on a habitual basis and consequently, tolerated by the authority governing the industry. Exceptional violations are isolated from the governing authority and are performed by the operator even though they may not be condoned by the management.
The second level is that of preconditions that give way to the actions of acts that are considered to be unsafe in the industry. These preconditions may exist in the environment, in the operators responsible, and in the personnel involved. Environmental factors exist in the physical environment of the aviation industry or in the technical environment of the industry. The physical environment includes the weather, terrain, or altitude, all of which have a direct impact on the safety of airplanes and the industry as a whole. The technological environment, on the other hand, describes issues of automation and design of the facilities, all of which are also directly responsible for the safety in the industry (Reason, 2005).
The condition of the operators in charge sets the stage for a precondition of safety. The mental state of the operators such as fatigue, motivation, and stress, all contribute to the safety of the industry. The psychological and physical wellbeing of the operators is equally important to such wellbeing and safety. It is for this reason that aviation operators are required to undergo a number of tests not only to ascertain their physical fitness, but more importantly, their mental and psychological wellness. In fact, there have been a number of incidents where pilots that were later found out to be mentally unstable were found to have caused accidents intentionally or unintentionally.
Besides operators, other personnel also play a critical role in the safety of the aviation industry. The crew work alongside the operators and liaise between them and passengers to create a conducive atmosphere for air operations. Personnel factors include communication, teamwork, coordination, and planning activities. Members of the crew must be granted off-duty rest and other restrictions that will ensure that they stay physically, mentally, and psychologically fit for their duties (Heinrich, Petersen & Roos, 2002).
The third level is that of unsafe supervision. This can include inadequate levels and amounts of supervision, failure to correct identified or known problems during the supervision process, violation of supervision processes, and the supervisors planning inappropriate action as a curbing measure to identified problems. Supervisors have the task to ensure that the staff under them have a platform for growth and success through guidance, leadership, training, and other oversight or incentives so that the staff are able to perform their tasks efficiently and safely. The supervisors should also take their staff through various phases of actions during work, so that staff are adequately aware of the operations they have to undertake in times of emergencies. This includes elements such as risk management, guidelines for emergency operations, the tempo of operation, and pairing of crews in order to avoid confusion during such times and ensure that the&...