Tom's Blog: Learing objective 4 blog

Identifying the many safety procedures for ground operations is not as easy a task as one might think. Besides the Army I have held two jobs in the aviation community and at both places the safety climate and accountability of personal tools are on two totally different planes. After life in the Army I got a job with a company in Nashville Tn., doing A,B, and C checks on ATR-72's. I have found a 3 cell Mag Lite under the floor boards that I still currently use, and a couple screwdrivers to go with it. Obviously there was no tool accountability from wherever that light or screwdrivers came from, and where I worked in Nashville there wasn't any either. We were responsible to keep track of our own tools, there was no inventory book that had all your tools on it for inspectors to come by and check and verify that your tools were in there at the end of the day. If I found those tools it leads you to think where do people leave other tools, and what might be the outcome of the plane or helicopter if one was left in the flight control area or engine compartment. The second job that I have had is for CSC a contractor on Ft. Campbell doing helicopter maintenance, and am currently at is very strict on tool control. One of the first things you do when you get hired and in your shop or hanger is to shadow all your tools in Styrofoam sheets that you cut out to fit the drawers of your tool box, then you cut out individual holes for all your tools so each one has it's own place. At the beginning of every day the mechanic signs out the tool box and at the end of the day he signs it in, and an inspector comes behind and verifies that all the tools are there. If the mechanic notices that a toll is missing he stops what he is doing and looks for the tool. If he can't find it several other mechanics and the inspectors look for the tool until it is found. This could take a few minutes to several hours to retrace all the areas he might have been in with that tool . If you don't find your tool and you happened to be working on an engine or some kind of hydraulic component, (that's what we work on in my shop) this is what might happen to the helicopter that, that part went on.