The Auxiliary is fundamentally a safety organization. We exist to promote Recreational Boating Safety and to help the Coast Guard with their Maritime Safety and Public Safety missions. Almost every one of our missions touches on safety in some way.

A strong safety culture drives mission accomplishment, ensures readiness, and empowers members to operate at their best. That’s why one of the Auxiliary’s strategic goals is to “Embrace an enhanced Safety Culture Auxiliary-wide”.

The work of the Auxiliary covers a very wide range of activities. Some of those activities, air and surface operations, for example, present obvious safety challenges. But safety is essential in everything that we do, whether it is inspecting vessels, teaching classes, providing culinary services, or any of the many other missions that we accomplish.

What is the state of our safety culture now? Where and what do we need to improve? There’s a saying “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Accordingly, to learn more about our current safety culture, the Coast Guard Office of Safety, and the Auxiliary National Safety Board, working together, set out to survey the membership to assess member perceptions of safety in the Auxiliary.

Our first Safety Climate Survey was conducted in 2022. Unfortunately, there were technical problems with the survey platform vendor, leading to difficulties in analyzing what data was obtained.

We learned from the problems encountered in the first survey and in 2023, we conducted another Auxiliary Safety Climate Survey. Although we had some new challenges, this time we gained more useful results. Our initial comments on the survey results are included below.

A true Safety Culture includes an Informed Culture, where we share knowledge of human, technical, environmental and organizational issues that affect us, and a Learning Culture, where we can share Lessons Learned, and implement reforms as needed. Accordingly, we are sharing the results of the survey, so any interested members can look at them. The survey question codebook of the 2024 Auxiliary Safety Climate Survey and the resulting survey output are posted below for members to review.

What does it mean? What did you learn? Well, individual interpretations may vary, but some things caught our eye.

• The survey confirmed something we already knew; that we need to provide more safety information and instructional material to our members. We will continue to add informational material to our website and we are working on developing more safety resources.
• The survey also confirmed something else; that we need to improve safety reporting. We have begun work on an electronic safety reporting system and we are developing additional material to encourage members to report mishaps, hazards and close calls.
• We note that the Likert scale responses to the questions showed that many respondents, frequently about 50% or so, “strongly agreed” with many of the statements. However, that also indicates that a similar number of respondents did not strongly agree with the statements. That suggests that many members may not know how to report mishaps and hazards or may not be comfortable reporting them. It is also apparent that that there is room for improvement in helping members find safety related policy information, in conducting safety related training and briefings, and in safety related leadership and communication.
• The text field responses revealed concerns in certain areas, particularly “the three Ps”, PPE, Performance, and Professionalism.
• PPE - There were various complaints regarding the availability, suitability, distribution, or maintenance of PPE, including the wear of Hot Weather Uniforms. Although those are localized problems, we want DCOs to be aware of this issue so they can take steps to ensure that PPE is handled appropriately within their respective districts.
• Performance – This includes concerns about ageing members or those encountering physical challenges. How do we transition members who no longer have the physical skills or abilities to do the activities they once enjoyed, to new activities more suited to their reduced capabilities? Some of us have had to struggle with the difficult issue of when to take the car keys away from an elderly family member. Likewise, when, and how do we suggest to a fellow member that they are no longer capable of safely and effectively doing the activities that they once did well. This must be handled with care and dignity and respect.
• Professionalism - This includes concerns regarding inappropriate behavior by Auxiliarists, including misogynistic comments and actions, reports of alcohol or drug use, or “good ‘ole boy” stuff, such as “looking the other way” at underperformance or inappropriate actions. It was noted that performance and professionalism concerns have both a safety component and non-safety leadership implications.

The bottom line is that there is much room for improvement. Accordingly, the feedback provided by the safety climate survey is a useful indication of where to direct our efforts. We hope that future surveys will show a positive change in members perceptions of our safety climate.