Issue 9 Jan 2009.indd - Ministry of Defence

support to ops
20
NEWSREEL
Duchess tries
out Mastiff
The Duchess of
Gloucester discusses
equipment
THE Duchess of
Gloucester has visited
the Contingency
Operating Base in Basra
to visit troops in theatre.
While she was there the
Duchess spent time with
a Mastiff team learning
about the weapons used
at the front line. She was
also driven in a Mastiff
protected vehicle which
was recently praised by
troops for its safety.
It’s a dog’s life
in the services!
THE Army has 165
military working
dogs and the RAF 292
according to the latest
fi gures for the number
and type of animals kept
in each of the services.
Dogs are used for many
tasks including patrol,
explosive search,
vehicle search and drug
detection.
The Army also has 489
horses while the Royal
Navy possesses 16 birds
of prey.
Regimental or unit
mascots are also kept
by the Army and include
two Drum horses, one
Indian Black Buck, one
Irish Wolfhound, two
mountain goats, two
Swaledale rams and
three Shetland ponies.
Pay offers
DETAILS of the 2008
industrial and nonindustrial
pay offers
have been announced.
The offers are threeyear
awards and will
provide shorter pay
scales with a three per
cent pay step each year
for the majority of staff.
The aim is to pay the
award and arrears in
February. More details
via the DE&S home page
on the defence intranet.
The cause is just – cult
A ‘just’ culture
should exist in
the military to
help servicemen
and women
have confidence
in leadership,
says Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock
Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff,
whose message has relevance for
all branches of the services and
the MOD.
British doctrine identifies three components of
fighting power: conceptual, physical and moral.
The physical – manpower, equipment, performance,
readiness and sustainability – is easy to report
against. Conceptual is guided by principles of war. Moral
is more difficult to quantify but includes motivation,
leadership, organisation, management and
supervision.
Get the moral component wrong and the
impact on fighting power is disproportionate. In
aviation terms, for example, such a failure can
manifest itself during training through accidents
when people make mistakes; or aviators not
willing to exploit their aircraft and the nature of
their environment to the advantage of the overall
campaign.
We must strengthen the moral component
by addressing the human factor, particularly in
the context of where we want people to work,
balancing the operational imperative to achieve
our mission against the safety culture in which
we expect them to operate. This is
a difficult balance, even in benign
circumstances. Such challenges
increase during operations when
our men and women work under
more pressure to get the job done,
and the propensity to make mistakes
increases.
Human factors are those which
drive the way individuals and their
interaction with other people, rules, procedures,
tools and equipment or with the operating
environment, influence the delivery of fighting
power.
Evidence shows that more than half our
accidents and incidents are down to human
factors; in other words it is our people who are
causing most damage to our fighting capability.
We must do something to understand these
factors and drive down the number of accidents
and incidents.
One of the most effective ways of doing
this is to promote a culture that encourages
open and honest reporting, that allows for a
structured investigation of errors which lead to
an incident, and that takes ‘just’ action which is
fair and measured. This action should address
all individual, systemic and environmental issues
relating to an incident and allow us to learn from
what took place. The actions and feedback will
prevent us making the same mistakes again. It is
the justness of what we do that gives rise to a ‘just
culture.’
To me, such a culture is based on trust.
It suggests a working environment where
individuals are encouraged to
‘We should have
no truck with
those who do not
do their jobs
properly’
Dealing with subordinates fairly
contributes to a key element of the moral
component and a fundamental strand in
the strategy to reduce accidents, which
helps to maintain the best operational
capability on the front line, says Air
Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup. Right:
a member of the Royal Gurkha Rifl es is
seen in action in Afghanistan
contribute to providing essential
safety information and where they
are commended for owning up to
mistakes as they try to do their
best.
It should promote a sense that
they will be treated fairly and with
integrity while we investigate why
mistakes have been made to make
sure we get things right next time.
But it is not a blame-free regime where no-one
is ever held to account. Everybody must be clear
about where the line must be drawn between
acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
I judge that the creation and proper
maintenance of a just culture will promote
confidence in our leadership, lead to more
effective management of expensive and scarce
resources and help motivate people through
the belief they will be treated reasonably and
equitably.