Leading the Way to “Zero Preventable Accidents”

In this age of soaring federal deficits, do you know that preventable accidents cost the Department of Defense $15 BILLION dollars annually? According to Secretary Robert Gates’ policy statement published May 30, 2007, $3 billion/year is lost in direct costs (e.g. medical care of the injured) and $12 billion/year in indirect costs (e.g. lost work time, delays in mission fulfillment, etc). The most significant mishap areas identified were civilian and military injuries and aviation accidents. The number one non-combat killer of our military was private motor vehicle accidents. These accidents are, indeed, preventable.

Biomedical engineers (BMEs) sitting at the design table can prevent both costly serious injuries as well as prevent mission delays and expensive retrofit solutions. The Mark V special operations (water) craft (SOC) provides a vivid example.

The Mark V SOC was developed for the Navy SEALs for use during small, rapid attack and rescue missions. When soldiers returned from their missions in the Mark V, however, they were observed to have multiple "flail" injuries, not from actual combat, but from bouncing around inside the boat. Their injuries included cracked ribs, head contusions, joint damage, and even bruised kidneys - some soldiers were urinating blood after these missions.

In order to reduce or prevent these injuries, the design team sought to improve the boat captain's navigation & steering system.  The "fix" was to create a captain's chair fixed on top of a shock absorber bed. The navigation screen was then inserted into the center of the steering wheel, which was then fixed to the captain's chair. This allowed the captain, steering wheel, and screen to move together relative to the boat as they moved over rough water. This "fix," however, only gave the captain better ability to handle the boat, which meant he/she drove even faster, resulting in a ride that was much more turbulent than the original design!

Secretary Gates was right when he said, “Accountability and leadership are key to an effective safety program.” Meeting the Secretary’s goal of “Zero Preventable Accidents” will require credentialed biomedical engineers at the military’s design table to lead the way.