A Systems Engineering Approach to Safety for a Naval Operational Unit 700632

System Safety Engineering techniques are frequently used to discover and correct potential hazards in military equipment. MIL-S-38130 and MIL-STD-882 require the use of systems methodology for assuring that designed hardware can be used operationally with an acceptable degree of safety. The System Safety techniques and methodology discussed here are applied to a military program but the same techniques and methodology are applicable to any operational unit. The techniques and methodology developed for the military can yield many dividends when applied anywhere that a hazardous operation may exist.

The CVA (aircraft carrier) incident/accident rate, coupled with the severity of recent aircraft carrier accidents, is unacceptable (to the Navy) for efficient carrier operation, as well as being costly from both personnel and equipment viewpoints. In the attempt to provide improved turn-around time during cyclic operations, safety regulations are strained because of urgent operational requirements. Current disjointed and segmented methods of aircraft servicing and arming during cyclic operations are caused by the complexity of numerous actions required. The problem is compounded due to the differences in safety procedures and regulations between CVA's.

The program outlined herein was proposed to the U. S. Navy by Harvey Aluminum Company as a means to improve safety of aircraft carrier operations during a critical period of operation, the “turn-around” cycle. It was prepared for the CASS (Carrier Aircraft Support Study) proposal. The operational aspects of the CVW/CVA complex are peculiar to the Navy and have no known industrial equivalent, even though daily decisions concerning personnel, plans and programs are alike in many respects. However, the Systems Engineering approach and the integration of all systems into a cohesive overall management program are applicable to industry. It is the Systems Engineering approach to a complex problem which will be discussed in this paper.