SECNAVINST 5100. 10G, Department of the Navy Policy for Safety, Mishap Prevention and Occupational Health  Programs,  delegates  the  authority  for  the operational aspects of the NAVOSH Program to the Chief   of   Naval   Operations   (CNO).   The   CNO’s responsibility  includes  issuing  directives  to  enact program policies and defining specific safety standards and  criteria. SAFETY  POLICY The   Navy’s   policy   is   to   enhance   operational readiness and mission accomplishment by establishing an aggressive occupational safety and health program. This  program  reduces  occupational  injuries,  illnesses  or deaths, and material loss or damage. It also maintains safe and healthy working conditions for personnel. The program addresses the elimination or control of hazards that can result in injury or death. The occupational health aspects concern the effects of long-term exposures to toxic  chemicals  and  harmful  physical  agents  (for example,  noise,  heat,  and  radiation).  The  occupational health aspects involve the monitoring and treatment of work-related  injuries  and  illnesses  as  well. Each safety program, whether it concerns safety afloat, ashore, or in aviation, uses the chain of command to carry out the program. Safety programs apply to all military  and  civilian  personnel  (including  off-duty military  personnel).  In  addition  to  personnel,  the program also applies to material afloat and ashore, on and off naval installations. The program requires Navy dependents  and  all  other  civilian  personnel  while embarked in naval ships or aircraft or while on naval shore installations to follow program directives. The CNO is responsible for implementing the safety and occupational health programs. The largest of these programs  is  the  NAVOSH  Program.  The  NAVOSH Program  addresses  the  maintenance  of  safe  and  health- ful  conditions  in  the  workplace  or  the  occupational environment. It applies to all Navy civilian and military personnel   and   operations   ashore   or   afloat. OPNAVINST  5100.23C,  Navy  Occupational  Safety and  Health  (NAVOSH)  Program  Manual,  is the basic NAVOSH  document  used  to  carry  out  the  program.  It refers to both afloat and shore commands. However, many unique and specific situations are associated with forces afloat as well as the aviation community. For that reason, the NAVOSH information for forces afloat was separated into the  Navy Occupational Safety and Health (NAVOSH)  Program  Manual  for  Forces  Afloat, OPNAVINST   5100.19B.   Afloat  Safety  Program, OPNAVINST 5100.21B, directs forces afloat to use OPNAVINST  5100.19B  for  specific  safety  standards. OPNAVINST  3750.6Q,  The  Naval  Aviation  Safety Program, is the reference for safety within the aviation community.  These  instructions  are  discussed  in  later chapters. SAFETY IN TODAY’S MODERN NAVY The  objective  of  the  safety  program  is  to enhance operational readiness by reducing the number of deaths and injuries to personnel and losses and damage to material from accidental cause. –OPNAVINST 3120.32C, Standard Organization and Regulations of the U.S. Navy Before we go any further, let us define some terms you will see throughout this chapter and book. We define  safety as freedom from danger, risk, or injury. An unplanned event or a series of events that results in injury, death, or material damage is a mishap. A hazard is an unsafe or a dangerous condition that may exist before a mishap occurs. We measure a hazard according to its severity and probability  of creating a mishap. The  overall  objective  of  the  NAVOSH  Program  is mishap prevention. If a mishap occurs, we provide for investigation of that mishap to prevent recurrence. Mishap  prevention  involves  identifying  a  hazard; evaluating  the  hazard;  and  correcting,  controlling,  or eliminating that hazard. Training is a critical element of mishap prevention. Safety supervisors play a critical role  in  mishap  prevention  and  hazard  awareness  and identification. Most mishaps are preventable. However, through ignorance or misunderstanding, many people have the common belief that mishaps are the inevitable result of unchangeable  circumstances  or  fate.  That  belief  is untrue because it fails to consider the basic law of “cause and effect” to which mishaps are subject. Thus, mishaps do not occur without  a cause. Few mishaps are the result of material failure or malfunction; most mishaps are the direct result of some deviation from prescribed safe 1-3