Throughout the past two years, the mission of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) has undergone many changes, but one thing has remained a constant: safety.

Now that George Washington has begun offloading unnecessary equipment in a process called SCOOP (ship's consolidated offload and outfitting plan), the need for more safety precautions is necessary to avoid workplace mishaps.

To help prevent injuries in the maintenance-heavy environment, the ship's safety department began providing more personal protective equipment (PPE) to the crew, Feb. 22-24.

Aviation Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Johsue Chinbritton, who works in the safety department, helped issue nearly 2,000 sets of hearing protection, hard hats and goggles to Sailors as the ship took steps toward a safer working environment.

"What makes safety so important now is there are contractors working on the deck already," said Chinbritton. "We have people working on the ceilings already, and you have parts and particles falling from the roof, so you need your hard hat, hearing protection and eye protection."

Having the new safety gear alone won't protect Sailors in every case.

"The gear works, but the thing we have to do as Sailors is wear it properly all the time," said Chinbritton. "That's how we're going to keep safe and protected until we get back from the shipyards."

While things like earplugs and safety glasses are straightforward, hardhats can be a different story.

"It can get hot or cold, so some Sailors will wear things underneath their hardhats so it's not properly secured to their heads, or they'll wear it loose, or have it tipped to the side or tilted up," said Chinbritton. "When we do that, we forget sometimes that it's not properly worn, so we'll go out not realizing that eventually it could cause some sort of mishap."

Sailors started wearing their newly acquired safety gear right away, and now, wearing the gear is mandatory.

"Hardhats will be worn in the hangar bay and they'll replace our ball caps, so you'll be wearing it throughout the hangar bay, flight deck and passage ways," said Chinbritton. "The only time you won't wear the hardhats is transiting to and from the ship; then you'll be authorized to wear your ball cap once again."

The same rules apply when wearing eye protection. Sailors who wear prescription lenses can obtain a prescription for safety glasses from their optometrist, or trade their issued goggles to safety for a pair that will fit over glasses. Areas where hearing protection is necessary will be marked with signs.

"Safety is everybody's responsibility, not just the guys with the green hats," said Chinbritton. "Let's help each other out by doing the right thing, wearing it right and staying safe."

With every Sailor properly wearing their safety gear, a new standard of safety is in place.

"It's not so bad," said Machinist Mate 1st Class Kalen McDonald about wearing the new gear. "Whatever lets me go home safe to my family at the end of the day, I'll do it."

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