The New England Patriots tied the Pittsburgh Steelers with the most championship wins when the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII last month. Although the Steelers and Patriots both have six Super Bowl championships, they are still one shy of NNSY Temporary Services’ (Code 990) record of safety flags earned last year.

"Within the last 12 months, Code 990 won the safety flag seven times," said Code 990 Group Superintendent James Holt. "When you take safety as seriously as we do, it means we have to look at the way we do things. Just because something was always done a certain way doesn’t mean there isn’t a better or safer way to do it."

With the support of Code 990’s upper management, safety advocate Mary Williams set out to find what the group could be doing better in safety two years ago. When given this task she immediately went to her biggest and best resource, Code 990’s personnel who worked on the waterfront.

"Along with the upper management I have an open-door policy," said Williams. "My open door isn’t just to my office. I step away from my desk and bring my open door to the workers on the waterfront."

During one of Williams’ conversations with waterfront workers, she found out that the harnesses used by the scaffolders were uncomfortable and cumbersome which made their work challenging. With this knowledge, Williams, Shop 89 (Shipwrights, Fabric Workers, and Scaffolding) Waterfront Operations Manager Jason Smith, and other supervisors began discussing ways to resolve this issue. They learned that another shipyard had designed a harness for the same reasons. Code 990 purchased enough harnesses for each employee to be issued one, plus an extra when the employees turn in their current harness for inspection.

"Another thing we learned from our people were that there were better and safer gloves for cutting material out on the market," said Smith. "We looked into it and purchased the gloves that would keep our workers safer while carrying out their duties and responsibilities."

Code 990 members are the first to board a carrier and submarine when they come to the shipyard, and the last to depart when the carrier and submarine head back to the active fleet. They are responsible for temporary services that the carrier and submarines receive like hooking up the hoses for potable water and connecting cables for electrical power. They are also responsible for maintaining life rafts, emergency lighting and other vital equipment.

Code 990 strives to meet the goal of "no one gets hurt today." Code 990 is comprised of ten different trades which all bring their own unique safety challenges. To best address safety issues, Williams sits down face to face with any employee who gets injured on the job and listens to them on what happened and what could have prevented the injury.

"We explain to them how vital it is for them to tell their story on what happened,’ said Williams. "These workers are part of my family, so when they tell me what happened, I take it to heart and do what I can to ensure it doesn’t happen again to them or anyone on the waterfront."

One method Williams uses to get the word out is holding a voluntary monthly safety meeting where employees can discuss injuries and share lessons learned. When she first started to hold the meetings two years ago, seven workers attended.

"Once word got out and our actions showed the workforce that we are for real, our monthly meetings have grown to 37 personnel," said Williams. "With these actions we’ve been taking, our injuries have decreased significantly. From the first quarter of fiscal year 18 to the first quarter of fiscal year 19, our injuries have dropped 60 percent."

Holt said that the decrease of injuries has meant less man hours lost. This factor is a huge contributor to this high performing team. With results like this, it’s become a good kind of contagiousness within his code and has started a friendly competition on the waterfront.

"Winning the safety flag has become a healthy competition between the superintendents," said Holt. "After we win a safety flag, we celebrate with cake and ice cream and recognize those individuals that had taken that extra step or two to help us earn the safety flag."

Code 990 will continue its efforts to keep the doors open and show the workforce that leadership is listening by taking action. When asked if there was anything Holt wanted to say to the other superintendents about the safety flag for the upcoming year, he replied, "Game on!"

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