Video Library

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance hosted a seminar — featuring the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mike Hillman — on the DOE’s Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) process. 

During the seminar, Hillman discusses

• The similarities between NASA and DOE
• Documented Safety Analysis highlights
• Safety Evaluation Reports
• The DOE's USQ process

Each year in the U.S., over 5.4 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are treated in more than 3.3 million people. There are more new cases of skin cancer than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer combined. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer over the course of a lifetime. Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, can develop from less dangerous types of skin cancer. Although simple screening exams can catch this process before it begins, one person dies of melanoma every hour. We are all vulnerable.

As a member of the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention, NASA has been working to lower these statistics. The first year on the council, NASA was awarded the American Academy of Dermatology’s Golden Triangle Award for our agencywide skin cancer prevention efforts.

Please take time to view this message from Dr. J.D. Polk on behalf of the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer and remember to set up a screening exam during your next physical. It’s quick and simple and could possibly save your life.

Gerry Schumann, Mishap Investigation program executive, reviews updates related to training requirements in NPR 8621.1C.

Mishap Investigation Program Executive Gerry Schumann explains requirements pertaining to Mishap Preparedness Contingency Plans, commonly known as MPCPs, as outlined in NPR 8621.1C.

Hear Gerry Schumann, Mishap Investigation program executive, discuss major updates in NPR 8621.1C, Mishap and Close Call Reporting, Investigating, and Recordkeeping.

White Sands Test Facility created a comprehensive Standard Parts Database for pressure vessel information. Hear how the database has increased safety at the facility.

Lightning strikes the U.S. about 25 million times each year, killing an average of 49 people. Many more are struck and suffer severe injuries. Many of us may carry inaccurate, preconceived notions concerning what to do when lightning strikes. This month, Steve Cash, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Marshall Space Flight Center, debunks the myths and shares the hard facts of lightning strikes. He also addresses what we can do to protect ourselves.

As leaders, we often say, "Take care of your people." Some of the most serious risks we face pay no attention to workplace boundaries. This month, Grant Watson, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Langley Research Center, shares his personal message of how his parents’ heart disease changed how he regarded his own heart health. May his message encourage you to reflect on your own story and on lowering heart disease risk.

After a mishap or major disaster, it’s natural to ask what we could have done better had we only known about a defect or flaw sooner. Sometimes those who see something before the test begins or the vehicle launches speak up. Sometimes they’re heard. NASA has experienced mishaps and tragedies where individuals within and outside of our agency had technically sound differing views that were never heard by decision-makers.

Although NASA’s process for submitting a dissenting opinion is outlined in NPD 1000.0B, NPR 7120.5E which includes the NASA Spaceflight Program and Project Management Handbook, Program and Project Managers should be actively seeking out dissenting opinions and addressing them in a clear, open and timely manner. This presentation will focus on the dissenting opinion process, identifying what a dissent is and how the process should unfold. Please take some time to thoughtfully reflect on this presentation; after all, it could be one of us whose choice to speak up could save lives at some point.

In the last half of 2015, three separate fire incidents occurred at NASA's Glenn Research Center. All three fires were immediately detected by operators or fire alarm systems and extinguished. Damage was assessed and regular operations resumed within a few days of each incident. Two fires were classified as Close Calls and one was classified as a Type D Mishap.

While response to each fire was excellent, such incidents give us the chance to refine preventive administrative controls by establishing pre-fire plans that address pre-operation checks, maintenance services and rapid detection of incipient fires. Changing weather and holiday leave periods can heighten risk of fire occurrence, while lowering the odds of on-scene employee detection. Some administrative fire prevention controls can even be applied informally to increase home safety. Engineering preventive barriers and firefighting controls are of course essential in the workplace, but administrative controls are important as well.