Figure 6-1.—Mishap-injury ratio. (fig. 6-1). For every 300 minor property damage mishaps and every 30 minor injuries, 1 major property damage mishap and 1 severe injury oc- cur. Preventing minor mishaps can reduce or eliminate major mishaps. Therefore, you should not only be concerned with serious mishaps, but you should investigate all mishaps to find what caused them. In this way, you can prevent repeats of mishaps, correct unsafe conditions or acts, and avoid major accidents. Investigate each mishap, no matter how minor, to determine its cause. Then take correc- tive action to prevent it from happening again. Similarly, treat the near mishap as an actual mishap. Capitalize on its value as a warning to help prevent a real mishap. In your investigation of each mishap and near-mishap case, you will find facts that can help you determine what poten- tial exists for a recurrence. Investigations also help to determine the required corrective action to remove the potential hazard. The key concept of mishap prevention is that the potential for a mishap exists, not necessarily that a mishap will occur. Your task as a senior petty officer is to motivate and train personnel to recognize and understand mishap causes and to encourage them to take preventive action. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the responsibilities and authority you will have in regard to safety. We will also discuss what you can do to ensure all hands make safety awareness a part of their daily work habits. DIVISION SAFETY PETTY OFFICER When you act as the safety petty officer, you are not tasked with finding all safety discrepan- cies by yourself. All division personnel share the responsibility of watching for safety violations. One of your primary responsibilities is to train each person in your division to notice those violations. SAFETY DUTIES As division safety petty officer, you must in- crease your own safety awareness in addition to training division personnel in mishap prevention. Always maintain records of safety training con- ducted within your division. If you have recom- mendations about the safety programs, be sure to give them to your division officer. As safety petty officer, you must help conduct safety in- vestigations as directed and act as a technical adviser about mishap prevention within your divi- sion. Additional duties include helping to carry out the safety duties of the division officer and serving as the division representative to the com- mand’s safety committee. SAFETY INFORMATION To be an effective safety petty officer, you should become familiar with all safety directives and precautions concerning your division. Since safety instructions vary from command to com- mand, we cannot give you an accurate listing of manuals and instructions with which you should be familiar. If you are assigned as a division safety petty officer, first obtain command safety instruc- tions and review them. Then review the references used in developing command or local safety in- structions. The following manuals and instruc- tions will help guide you in making your duty station a safer place to work. Navy Occupational Safety and Health (NAVOSH) Program Manual, OPNAV- INST 5100.23B—Encompasses all safety disciplines such as aviation safety; weap- ons/explosives safety; off-duty safety (recreation, public, and traffic); and oc- cupational safety as well as occupational health Electronics Installation and Maintenance Book, General, section 3, NAVSEA SE 000-00-EIM-100—Contains information concerning electrical/electronic safety pre- cautions 6-2