916th applies safety principles to keep mission going Published April 23, 2008 By Maj. Steve Lanier 916th Safety Office SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Safety is our number one priority. Leaders across our nation's military can be heard saying this phrase daily as it applies to personnel and equipment. And it's not just a command message, it's a firm belief in ensuring the mission is accomplished and military men and women are protected while doing that mission. The 916th Air Refueling Wing recently applied the Operational Risk Management (ORM) process to overcome severe limitations imposed on its maintainers due to ongoing construction. Contractor personnel shut down the water supply to two of the wing's maintenance hangars while they rerouted underground piping. This rendered the fire suppression systems in the hangars inoperative. The risks to military personnel and equipment associated with conducting maintenance in those hangars increased dramatically as a result. Without the application of sound ORM principles, the 916th Maintenance Group would have been forced to shut down operations in the hangars. Master Sgt. Chris Scher, 916th Quality Assurance, was notified of the issue and worked closely with Mr. Michael Joseph, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base assistant fire chief and the 916th Safety Office, to implement several risk control measures that allowed continued use of the hangars to accomplish critical work on the KC-135R air-to-air refueling aircraft. First, the safety team educated everyone working in and around the hangars about the restrictions in place to keep them safe. Next, they ensured hangar doors were kept open and had a number of portable fire extinguishers were nearby while aircraft were present in hangar. Just these few simple steps ensured that the mission was able to continue and risk management principles were being applied. This recent event was just one example of how the 916th uses the ORM six-step process on a daily basis in order to control risks and enhance mission effectiveness.