Navy Command Culture Assessments and Error Reduction in Aviation and Aviation Maintenance

In 1996 a series of costly and preventable mishaps in Naval Aviation were determined to be the cause of dysfunctional cultures that existed within the mishap squadrons. Soon after, the Navy implemented a two-part process to root out dysfunctional cultures before they could cause further mishaps. The first step is for the squadron to complete a Climate Survey. The Climate Survey is an indicator of potential problems. The next step is for a trained Senior Naval Aviator to conduct a Culture Assessment of the squadron to accurately define the current culture of safety as well as any dysfunctional subcultures. Over the last five years, the Navy has saved $1.1 billion from the implementation of this program.¹