Memorial Day weekend is coming up, and that starts the 101 Critical Days of Summer, which continue through the Labor Day weekend. During this period we pay special attention to safety and Operational Risk Management (ORM) because, historically, there is an increased number of mishaps and accidents during the summer. This is primarily because we participate in more kinds of activities during the summer: such as National Cadet Special Activities, Cadet Encampments, LESA, glider and powered flight academies, SAREXs, Low Level Route Surveys, air shows, and so on.

We also spend more time at recreational activities like swimming, boating, barbecuing, bike riding, fireworks on the 4th, and we spend a lot more time on the roads driving to those activities. The higher level of activity puts us at greater risk of having a mishap, just because of the increased exposure. Therefore, we put extra effort into our safety education program in order to mitigate the risks associated with the 101 critical days.

There is a wide variety of educational materials available, including quite a bit of it right here on our own web site! Every unit must have a safety briefing on the 101 Critical Days of Summer between now and the end of June, and ensure that it gets documented. And, speaking of documentation, there are several new safety tools available in e-Services.

There is a new online safety briefing available in e-Services that every member should view. You will find the instructions here:

https://www.capnhq.gov/CAP.SafetyBriefingApp.Web/Documentation/OnlineSafetyBriefingUSERGuide.pdf

Every member should take a look at the new way we will be recording and tracking safety meeting participation – in e-Services instead of WMU. This is a restricted application available to unit commanders and safety officers. If you have been in the safety module of WMU lately, you have seen the note that the safety application will be turned off in WMU in June. Everyone is transitioning to doing that in e-Services. The instructions for recording safety briefing information in e-Services are here: 

https://www.capnhq.gov/CAP.SafetyBriefingApp.Web/Documentation/SafetyBriefingDemo.pdf

Please keep Safety uppermost in your mind, whether it is participating in one of our CAP missions, or while enjoying some recreational activity this summer. And do take a look at this short PowerPoint presentation.

ORM works!  But only if you use it!

Joe R. Smith, Col, CAP

Wing Commander