CHAPTER 1
MANAGEMENT SAFETY AND
SUPERVISION
Chapter Objective: Upon completion of this chapter, you will have a working
knowledge of the AME work center supervisor’s responsibilities for a
continuous safety program.
The Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and
Personnel Classifications and Occupational
Standards, NAVPERS 18068 (series), states that
the AME is responsible for the maintenance of
many systems. Some of these systems are covered
in this manual. Other areas that the AME1 and
AMEC must be qualified in are maintaining work
center records, preparing reports, and training and
leadership. The training and leadership responsi-
bilities are addressed in the Aviation Maintenance
Ratings Supervisor, NAVEDTRA 10343-A1,
which you should complete along with this
training manual (TM).
Senior AME personnel, because of the in-
herent dangers involved in the duty, must be more
concerned with personnel and equipment safety
than senior petty officers in other aviation ratings.
Because of this concern, management, safety and
supervisory information is presented here as a
separate chapter, as well as in other places
throughout this training manual.
SAFETY
Learning Objective: Identify safety
precautions for working with hazardous
substances and equipment.
In the AME rating there are many ways for
a careless or inexperienced worker to hurt himself
or others and damage equipment. In fact, no other
aviation ratings has more potential for loss of life
or violent destruction of property than the AME
rating. Because of the inherent dangers associated
with survival equipment, AME supervisors must
be able to recognize and correct dangerous
conditions, avoid unsafe acts, and train others to
recognize and respect the importance of safety.
Each year Navy personnel operating and
maintaining safety and survival equipment are
involved in accidents. These accidents result in
excessive repair and/or replacement cost amount-
ing to millions of dollars and reduced operational
readiness. The magnitude of this recurring loss
emphasizes the necessity for preventing accidents,
and the associated human suffering. Investiga-
tions have revealed two major reasons for most
accidents with and around safety and survival
equipment; (1) lack of effective training, (2) lack
of supervision and leadership. The supervision,
leadership, and training required for the proper
operation and maintenance of safety and survival
equipment are provided by the AME1 and the
AMEC.
The term safety, as discussed in this course,
is defined as freedom from danger. This definition
covers both personnel and equipment. It does not
mean that hazards will not exist (they will); but
it does mean that if the hazards are known, safety
awareness can and will help prevent accidents.
Safety is everybody’s responsibility, and all
hands are required to promote and adhere to
safety rules and regulations. This is easy to say,
and it is the ultimate aim of all supervisory
personnel, but it is not easy to achieve.
The AME’s interest in safety is personal. Ask
anyone about safety and they will agree it’s very
important. This means everyone wants to be safe,
but may feel that observing safety precautions
slows down their work. Some feel they know the
job so well that they don’t have to be cautious.
Still others think “there will be accidents, but to
the other guy, not me.”
It is these attitudes toward safety that place
the burden of responsibility for safety on AME
supervisory personnel. They must realize that
accidents can happen anywhere, anytime, and
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