Encl. (1) to COMDTINST 3500.2
These individuals play a critical role in promoting and advancing endurance
management efforts.
Task 5 - Schedule changes are often necessary for aligning human physiology
with operational/mission requirements. Many work schedules in use today
unwittingly place crewmembers at risk for compromised endurance. However,
most of these schedules can be corrected without compromising operational or
mission response capabilities, and within staffing constraints. In fact, these
schedule modifications improve alertness, health and wellbeing, and operational
readiness. A schedule evaluation tool is provided in the Endurance Resources
section of the CEMS Tool. This tool should be used to evaluate schedules for
elements that increase exposure to endurance risk. A detailed discussion of work
schedule issues can be found in the CEM Guide that is part of the Endurance
Resource in the CEMS tool.
A cautionary note: There may be a desire to address the 5 tasks in order of
convenience, ease, or personal belief for what will fix endurance problems. All
too often, WGs focus solely on work schedule issues as the cause of their
endurance risk, and discount or ignore the other tasks. Even if work schedules are
contributing to endurance risk, implementing changes without first executing the
previous 4 tasks increases the likelihood that the changes will fail. Tasks 1-4
creates the environment for change by: 1) educating members on why change is
needed, 2) modify the environment to accept/support the change, and establish a
support infrastructure to promote and maintain the changes. These tasks have
been tested and validated in numerous CG operational environments.
Successful deployment of any CEM plan depends on the active participation and
encouragement of leaders at all levels of the organization. If a unit is making significant
organizational changes (such as instituting a napping policy or changing work schedules),
proactive leadership advocacy is an absolute requirement. These principal players must,
above all other personnel, master how to control crew-endurance risks, and how to create
a collaborative network throughout a unit. Ultimately, these leaders must teach, support,
encourage, and lead personnel to a consistent practice of sound endurance practices.
The WG must continuously monitor the changes imposed by the CEM plan in order to
identify and correct any unexpected events or problems. In this regard, the WG should
encourage personnel to provide feedback on their experience during the changes, and
report any problems they encounter. Once the CEM plan is completely deployed and
appears to be running smoothly, the WG should wait at least 30 days before initiating any
evaluations of the plan's overall effectiveness.
Step 5 - Assess the effectiveness of the CEM plan
The final step to the CEM program implementation process is to evaluate whether the
changes deployed under the CEM plan produced the desired results. Because change is
potentially stressful and disruptive to crewmember physiology, and may require
conducting operations differently (e.g., reducing the number of pipes including taps and
reveille) which can create stress and anxiety in the crew, it is recommended that the CEM
12
Previous Page
