Naval Safety Center subject matter experts kicked off a series of Safety Road Shows June 18 to roll out significant changes to selected chapters in the Navy’s updated Safety and Occupational Health Manual, OPNAVINST 5100.23H.

During the Safety Road Show, subject matter experts took safety professionals on a deep dive of the manual’s changes, answered questions and presented the expectations of compliance.

A 2018 mishap involving non-compliance with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirement at a facility with a workforce that included government employees receiving Base Operating Support (BOS) and tenants “was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” according to Jonathan Wilson, Naval Safety Center shore safety programs director. It drove necessary changes to the manual that comes on line Aug. 1.

“We were not doing a good enough job for identifying, recording and correcting hazards,” Wilson said.

To address this, Navy senior leadership recommended establishing a common standard to evaluate shore safety effectiveness and establishing a single owner of the end-to-end process for identifying, recording and correcting shore safety deficiencies.

A Safety High Velocity Learning project was launched and as a result, updates were made to the manual. The updates are primarily designed to provide better detail of what BOS safety services will be provided to tenants, outline the holistic conduct of workplace inspections to identify hazards and shift Navy safety to an agency focus.

The Department of Defense changed its support agreements policy (DoD Instruction 4000.19) in August 2018, requiring host agencies to provide like services to tenants.

“This was a major shift in how we provide BOS safety support,” Wilson said. "That is why we made changes to ensure that the level of quality support provided to the tenants is going to be the same as they would receive or they would provide for their own missions.”

Qualified inspectors will conduct workplace inspections on an annual basis in all work spaces regardless of ownership (host or tenant), for all operations regardless of purpose, and for inspections of workplace equipment and facilities (such as fixed ladders).

Agency focus relates to how OSHA views the Navy and holds the Navy accountable as an agency.

“We are required to comply with the OSH Act,” Wilson said. “Even if you wear a uniform, we have to follow OSHA. We are not a group of individual employers. We are one agency, and we do have to comply with the OSH Act. Many times we get calls that commands are reporting like they are employers, and there are some, even OSHA area directors, that believe we’re employers.”

Agency focus results in a “matrix organization” with shared accountability, authority, responsibility and subject matter expertise.

During the road show’s final hour, the Navy’s Safety and Occupational Health community manager, Paul Leslie, conducted a session solely with safety professionals. He discussed changes to Chapter 6 in the manual, which outlines safety professional training and responsibilities. He also spoke to the future for safety professionals.

"The updated ‘H’ aligns with [the] Secretary of the Navy’s four safety themes: Every Sailor, Marine and civilian cares enough to be a safety leader," Leslie said. "Reporting helps us learn and prevent. Cutting corners costs lives. And, reduced mishaps improves readiness. Readiness is the bottom line why the Navy has safety professionals, because our Sailors and Marines need to be at the tip of the spear to defend our nation. Needless mishaps negatively impact the mission.”

For specific questions regarding the updated manual, and exact times and locations of upcoming road shows, email the Naval Safety Center shore safety team at NRFK_SAFE_OSHFeedback@navy.mil.

Here is a list of upcoming road shows:

DATE                     LOCATION

July 8                     Naval Station Mayport

July 10                  NAS Jacksonville

July 12                  Sub Base, Kings Bay

July 15                  NAS Key West

July 16                   Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine

July 16                   Weapons Station Earle/Colt Neck

July 17                  NAS Pensacola                  

July 18                  Sub Base New London

July 18                  NSA Lakehurst

July 23                   NAS Meridian

July 23                   NAWS China Lake

July 25                   NAS Whiting Field

July 25                   NAS Lemoore

July 31                   Naval Base Venture County

July 31                   Naval Base Point Mugu

Aug. 7                    Naval Base San Diego

Aug. 8                    Naval Base San Diego

Aug. 9                    Naval Base Coronado

Aug. 12                 Joint Base Pearl Harbor

Aug. 13                 Joint Base Pearl Harbor

Aug. 14                 Pearl Harbor Shipyard

Aug. 16                 Naval Base Guam

Aug. 27                 NAS Corpus Christi

Aug. 29                 JRB Fort Worth 

Sept. 3                  NSA Memphis

Sept. 5                  Naval Station Great Lakes

Sept. 10                Fleet Activities, Sasebo, Japan

Sept. 11                Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton

Sept. 12                Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Sept. 13                Naval Station Everett

Sept. 13                Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Japan

Sept. 16                Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Japan

Sept. 16                NAS Whidbey Island

Sept. 17                Joint Base Andrews

Sept. 18                Fleet Activities, Okinawa, Japan

Sept. 19                NAS Fallon

Sept. 23                NSA Bahrain

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