4 AUGUST 2018 • FOGHORN Safety Must Be the Heart of Every Operation This month’s editorial topic, Safety, is especially difficult to write after the tragic accident in Branson, Missouri on July 16. We are profoundly saddened by the loss of life that occurred. The NTSB and U.S. Coast Guard have started an investigation that could take as much as year to be completed, we will continue to monitor the investigation as it unfolds and comment as appropriate as the investigative reports are made available. This terrible accident serves as a reminder to all of us that safety must continue to be our top priority. Padelford Packet Boat Co. has had one loss of life incident in our 49-year history. On July 24, 1979 Crew Chief Barry Thelen decided to go for a swim to cool down after his shift. It was common practice for the crew in the 70’s to jump from the upper deck into the river at the end of the day. Unfortunately, Barry’s wet bare feet slipped out from underneath him causing him to fall and hit his head on the lower deck guard rendering him unconscious he landed in the river. Several crew members jumped in to the river in an effort to find Barry but were unable to locate him in the muddy waters of the Mississippi river. We have a memorial display on the Jonathan Padelford in honor of Barry Thelen. For me it serves as a daily reminder of the ongoing importance of building a safety culture that empowers employees and focuses on continual improvement in operating practices. In all honesty there was very little safety training or drills back then, I am told we did not even have work vests for the crew on any of our vessels until after Barry’s accident. Building a safety culture requires hard work and perseverance. It can be particularly daunting for a decades old business with a good safety record. At times, the institutional mentality of an established company can be the largest hurdle, it is too easy to get comfortable and point to your safety record with the assumption that your policies, procedures and training are sufficient. For me the wake up call happened five years ago while conducting drills during an annual Coast Guard inspection on our K boat/K barge combination. The inspection occurred in late March before our seasonal crew was onboard so we had a crew of all Masters conducting the Man Overboard drill. Because we had a crew consisting of all Masters the primary master was deferring to them when he needed to be in charge and some of our long time Masters had not been on the deck for drills in quite some time. It was an eye opening experience for me and has caused us to look critically at some of our long standing training policies and procedures. As a result we have changed our drill procedure to ensure Masters are coming out of the pilot house for a deck tour refresher. We have been gradually implementing elements of PVA’s voluntary Safety Management System “Flagship” for the past couple of years. Throughout implementation we have identified some best practices as well as some procedures that we needed to improve. We have found that we did have most of the elements in place but lacked the formal processes required for continuous improvement, audits and best practices. I would encourage you to take a look at the PVA Safety and Crew Training Tools page located in Member Resources section of our association’s website, we have found the risk management guide to be a helpful tool that can be an invaluable aid in your critical thinking process as you identify risks associated with your operation. Flagship will be available online soon, in the meantime please contact PVA staff if you have questions regarding Flagship. Thank you, Gus Gaspardo President n LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Gus Gaspardo At times, the institutional mentality of an established company can be the largest hurdle, it is too easy to get comfortable and point to your safety record with the assumption that your policies, procedures and training are sufficient.