Aug-Sep 2013, Issue 174 - Royal New Zealand Navy

Chief of Navy Rear Admiral J.R.Steer, onzmyours ayeKia ora. We are a great Navy that conducts its operations verywell indeed. You should all be proud of the amazing thingsyou achieve every day. However there are always areas in ourorganisation where we can strive to do better. This is why for thisedition of Navy Today I want to focus on the importance of safety inour workplace.As you all know my priority is our people and a big part of this isproviding everyone with a working environment that they feel safein. A workplace where you can happily come to work knowing thatyour workmates will treat you appropriately and a place that has theequipment, procedures and processes established to ensure thatyou can carry out your work safely.We always need to be working to improve all aspects of ourworkplace, including safety. Over the years there have been manychanges and improvements to our Navy but as in other areas ofour work, we need to keep on seeking improvement. Let’s faceit. We work in an environment that is at times risky. That is thenature of conducting our military work in the demanding maritimeenvironment in which we operate. As you are all aware, the sea canbe an unforgiving place to work.However, we sometimes need to push the limits of our people andequipment to achieve our operational goals. At the same time wealso need to ensure that our shipmates are not needlessly exposedto risk. Sure there are times when we have to launch a boat froma ship, in the dark and in rough weather. But before we do thatwe should have worked up the crews and others involved in theevolution to ensure that we have identified and minimised the risksas much as possible.When I say this I don’t now expect everything to stop. What I doexpect and what you all deserve, is that we consider the risks andthe requirements before an evolution is started. That everyoneis briefed before an evolution or task is begun and that everyoneinvolved is aware that they all have a part to play in ensuring thesafety of their shipmates during the task. If we all continue to workto improve the safety culture throughout our Navy then we will beeven better placed to conduct our operations and ensure the safetyof our people.As far as the other part of our safety culture goes we need tocontinue to improve the way we work with and interact with ourshipmates. After all, what we do is all about people working togetherto achieve their goals. We are a learning organisation and we needto keep learning. That is what the Naval Excellence programme is allabout. Continuously improving our operational, organisational andpeople excellence remains a key component of our Navy.We will assist this process by adding more safety aspects topre-deployment briefings to ensure everyone is aware of theirresponsibilities and importantly, what they can do if they observeunsafe practices. A key part of this is reporting. We need to continueto ensure that all accidents and near misses are reported. By doingthis we can spread the information throughout our Navy andprevent further incidents of the same nature.We will be holding a Well-Being Forum late in October to cover awide range of people matters. This will be repeated over two daysto ensure as many people as possible can attend and will includeeducation and advice. I recommend this forum to you all.The parents of the young men and women who join us every yearexpect their children to enjoy a safe working environment; a placewhere they can all develop themselves and achieve their dreams.That is what our Navy is about. Every day I get to meet the men andwomen of our Navy. Men and women who are passionate abouttheir jobs and care deeply about our Navy. These same men andwomen achieve extraordinary things every day as they represent usall over the world. They serve their country and there is not muchmore you can ask of someone than that.We all need to keep on working to make our workplace as safe andas good as it can be. I look forward to working with all of you toachieve this.Above: CN at the graduation ceremony for Junior Officer Common Training13/01 putting a new rank slide on SLT Jonathan Otto, helped by Mrs SandraOtto, Jonathan’s mother.yours aye3