R 111346Z MAY 18
ALMAR 016/18
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC DMCS(UC)//
SUBJ/COMMANDANT'S SAFETY ACTION CAMPAIGN//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  Every week we lose Marines and Sailors to mishap-related injury or death.  Nearly all of these mishaps are preventable.  While we have made significant strides in reducing the severity and frequency of ground mishaps, aviation and off-duty mishaps continue to shatter the lives of far too many Marines, Sailors, and families.  Over the past 30 months, 202 Marines and Sailors have died in mishaps – the majority (109) were killed while riding a motorcycle or driving a car.  As the Sergeant Major and I talk to Marines and Sailors, it is clear that tragedies outside of your own or adjacent units are simply not visible.  As a result, Marines are unaware of the full magnitude of these senseless losses.  Marines take care of our own - this is one of our enduring principles emphasized in MCDP 1-0, and is an essential element of our mission to “Live the Title You've Earned” and “Lead Like You Want to Be Led.”
2.  This message kicks off the Commandant's Safety Action Campaign.  I challenge all Marines to reduce the number of mishap fatalities 50 percent by the end of Fiscal Year 2019.  This is a bold and aggressive goal that can only be achieved through a deliberate and continuous focus on actively identifying hazards and making balanced risk decisions through professional planning, briefing, execution, and debriefing of every mission - by leaders at every level, in every unit.  This emphasis on risk management and a deliberate plan/brief/execute/debrief cycle must then be purposefully applied to our off-duty activities.
3.  To support the Safety Action Campaign, CMC Safety Division will publish a monthly collection of safety observations, mishap trends, risk management best practices, and summaries of fatal and injury mishaps.
4.  I task all Commanding Officers and Sergeants Major to:
  a.  Continuously assess the professionalism of your unit's daily operations - specifically how Marines and Sailors plan, brief, execute, and debrief all operations, no matter how routine.  Safety is not a separate activity, but the byproduct of our collective professionalism in every aspect of our daily operations.
  b.  Ensure your subordinate leaders:
     (1) Embody and enforce professionalism in all aspects of on-duty and off-duty behavior.
     (2) Communicate the lessons gleaned from our mishap losses found in the CMC Safety Division monthly to their subordinate Marines at least monthly.  Include discussion of how risk management principles are applied to off-duty activities.
  c.  Empower every Marine, Sailor, and Civilian in your charge to identify and communicate hazards up and down the chain of command by reinforcing a professional safety culture that expects and encourages open and honest reporting of hazards, errors, and near-misses.  Commanders and leaders must, through daily interactions, demonstrate the difference between errors that require coaching and willful violations that require correction.  Our NCOs must be intimately involved in all actions to reduce mishaps.
5.  Commanders of MARFORCOM, MARFORPAC, MARFORRES, MARFORSOC, and the Commanding Generals of TECOM and MCRC will deliver an in-progress review brief to the 39th Executive Force Preservation Board (EFPB) providing interim results, best practices, and barriers to success of the Safety Action Campaign.  The 39th EFPB is tentatively scheduled for October 2018 and will be announced via SEPCOR.
6.  Execute the plan, Robert B. Neller, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps.//