I. Survey Administrator

II. Squadron Commander (SQ/CC)

I. Survey Administrator:

1. AFCMRS - a safety assessment tool: This survey website is a tool for your squadron commander. The value of the data is directly proportional to the effort that you (the survey administrator) and your unit put into conducting the survey.  AFCMRS includes the following surveys:

2. Best path to enter the "Air Force Combined Mishap Reduction System" website:     

3. Anonymity of the survey respondents: This survey process will NOT succeed unless survey respondents are assured that they have complete anonymity of their responses. Please emphasize that your SQ/CC is completely unable to associate any demographic information with the corresponding safety item responses.  Only the averages of the safety survey items are viewable by the SQ/CC and anyone with whom the debrief access codes are shared. 

4. Confidentiality for the SQ/CC: Only your SQ/CC will receive the access code to view his/her data. If anyone else wants the access code, they will have to get it from your SQ/CC. The access code is passed to your SQ/CC via telephone.  It is only passed to your SQ/CC by e-mail when phone contact is impractical (i.e., in remote theaters of operation, field exercises, etc).

5. What guidance directs the completion of the Nuclear Mission Surveys?  Major General C. Donald Alston,  ACS, Strategic Deterrence & Nuclear Integration, addressed the use of the Nuclear Mission surveys in this memo dated 29 May 2009.

6. How often should a squadron conduct the survey process? It is recommended that Air Force squadrons shall conduct the AFCMRS process within 30 days following a squadron change of command and annually thereafter. Consideration may also be given to: deployment cycle (if applicable), SQ/CC's desire to examine a particular issue, or something just isn't right and the SQ/CC wants feedback from the squadron.

7. How many personnel should take the survey? ALWAYS request a number of surveys equal to the total number of personnel in your unit who should take a particular survey (e.g.,  all aircrew for OPS, all maintainers for MX, all support personnel for SUP, all personnel for PMV, etc.).  Then, strive to achieve participation from as many personnel as possible.  If 100% participation is not achieved, refer to Table 1 below for determining an acceptable number of responses for each survey..

8. How many personnel have taken the survey? The squadron survey administrator can determine how many individuals have completed the survey by going to the "SURVEY ADMIN" link in the left menu and entering the survey ID where it says, "Please enter the Survey ID:"  This will produce a dialog box showing how many surveys have been completed.

9. Bandwidth limitation: The Internet is the medium that relays to/from us. Bandwidth is a limitation of this medium. Therefore, plan accordingly. When deployed, bandwidth and connectivity are factors to consider prior to taking the surveys or reviewing their results.  Some squadrons opt to conduct the surveys by Excel forms when deployed to locations with limited Internet connectivity - if this is necessary, please advise us by e-mail that you are requesting the Excel forms version of the survey and we will provide instructions and the necessary files.

10. Setting up the survey: To set up the survey for your squadron, register by selecting item #2, "SET-UP SURVEY" in the menu at left.  Once the registration information has been completed, call the Air Force Safety Center survey managers to receive the survey IDs at:

• SQ/CC name, phone number, e-mail address
• Number of operations personnel in the squadron
• Number of maintainers or support personnel in the squadron
• If you will break any groups up (ex., training squadrons often distinguish between instructor and student aircrew) you'll need those numbers as well

You will be given a unique survey ID for each group of survey respondents.  For example, all the operations personnel taking the OPS survey will use one survey ID, those taking the MX survey will have another survey ID, etc.  If you break it into groups, like instructors and students, then each group will have a unique survey ID.

11. How to conduct the survey: Recommend the squadron set up computers in your squadron spaces. The computers should be open to the survey website, www.AFCMRS.org.  Disseminate the Survey IDs so that respondents can take the survey (usually 10-15 minutes per person) and then leave.

12. Taking the first survey: Recommend the squadron survey administrator take the first survey so that he/she is better informed if anyone has any questions. In the case of the MX or SUP surveys, have a maintenance or support supervisor or enlisted safety-maintainer take a survey for the same reason.

13. Minimum survey responses: Unit survey administrators should strive to obtain the maximum possible participation. Table 1 at the bottom of this page shows the participation levels necessary to achieve 95% confidence that the survey results are within 5% of what they would have been had the entire unit population been surveyed. If a unit participates at a lower level than the figures given in Table 1, we will advise the SQ/CC during debrief that the statistical confidence in the available results could be better, possibly substantially better. Debrief is possible at any level of participation, but whether the data offers meaningful results is largely determined by what percentage of the unit provides survey responses. The more participants, the more confidence the SQ/CC will have that the results truly reflect the opinions of the unit. We do NOT monitor survey submission rates; that is the responsibility of the unit survey administrator. Once the administrator believes maximum participation is attained, contact us (see Instruction #14 below) and we will contact the SQ/CC to offer a debrief of the results.

14. What to do after completing the survey process: When the unit has achieved maximum participation, contact the Air Force Safety Center's survey managers at: DSN 246-1462    (Comm: 505-846-1462) or afsec.seh.hqafsecafcmrs@us.af.mil). They can verify your unit's level of participation and then call your SQ/CC with the SQ/CC's access code(s) to view the survey results. If you are in a location where phone access is impractical, your SQ/CC will receive the access code(s) via e-mail..

II. Squadron Commander (SQ/CC):

1. AFCMRS - a safety assessment tool: This survey is a tool for you. The value of the data is directly proportional to the effort that you and your unit put into conducting the survey.  Experience has shown that commanders who verbally endorse the survey and request candid, complete feedback from all squadron personnel derive the greatest value in safety insight. Of particular value are the open-ended (essay-type) survey items that allow respondents to type in their own responses – please encourage your squadron to take advantage of these items to provide the most substantive input.

2. Anonymity of the survey respondents: This survey process will NOT succeed unless survey respondents are assured that they have complete anonymity of their responses.  It is in the interest of the unit to ensure that the survey respondents understand that you, the SQ/CC, cannot associate demographic information with a respondent's safety survey responses.  You can see only numeric averages for the various safety survey items and any open-ended responses that were provided.

3. Confidentiality for the SQ/CC: Only the CC will receive the access code to view the survey results. If anyone else wants the access code, they will have to get it from the SQ/CC. The access code is passed to the SQ/CC via telephone.  It is only passed to the SQ/CC by e-mail when phone contact is impractical (i.e., in remote theaters of operation, during field exercises, etc).

4. SQ/CC Access: After entering the AFCMRS" website, "COMMANDER ACCESS" is the fourth menu item at left. Enter here. Then, enter your "Commander's ACCESS ID" and press "SUBMIT." This opens the Commander Access webpage; continue from here.  If you have the codes from your squadron's last survey cycle, you may enter it in the bottom text box labeled "Option" - this gives a SQ/CC the ability to compare the current survey results with those of the last cycle.

5. How often should a squadron take the survey process? Air Force squadrons shall conduct the AFCMRS process within 30 days following a squadron change of command and annually thereafter. Consideration may also be given to: deployment cycle (if applicable), SQ/CC's desire to examine a particular issue, or something just isn't right and the SQ/CC wants feedback from the squadron.

6. How many personnel should take the survey? Recommend everyone eligible to take the survey, actually take it. Trying to develop a statistically representative sample of your squadron (e.g., appropriate ranks, day/night crew, every maintenance section, etc.) takes significant statistical skills. Not done correctly, you have an inaccurate representation of the organization being surveyed. Refer to Table 1 at the end of these instructions for determining a minimum sample size.

7. Comparing your data with your organization's earlier data: For those organizations that have taken the survey process more than once, SQ/CCs can compare their unit's current survey results with the unit's prior survey results on a single screen. This feature is available on the COMMANDER ACCESS login webpage.  Enter the current Commander's Access code in the top block then enter the previous survey Commander's Access code in the bottom block labeled "Option."  You will then see that the graph which shows the distribution of responses for each item has both blue bars and gold bars.  The blue bars show the response distribution for the current survey cycle and the gold bars show the distribution during the last survey cycle.  If you do NOT have the access code for your previous cycle and it was given to your predecessor, you will need to contact that person to provide clearance for you to receive those access codes from us.

8. Comparing your squadron's responses with other groups of interest: When viewing the webpage containing the bar chart of mean responses for all survey items (the Summary Graph), a vertical bar is overlaid on top of each survey item. To the right of the histogram chart are two radio buttons to select the comparison population of these vertical bars. The two options are:

It defaults to your MAJCOM for comparison. Select the comparison population with which you desire to compare your unit's mean values. The center of the vertical bar contains a white dot representing the mean responses in the database for that survey item for the selected comparison population. The bar also displays ±½ standard deviation of that comparison population mean. A yellow flag will appear above the vertical bar if your squadron's mean value is less than the selected comparison population mean, but within ½ standard deviation below it. A red flag will appear above the vertical bar if your squadron's mean is more than ½ standard deviation below the selected comparison population's mean.

9. Survey Item Table: A table is provided that lists all the survey items and their corresponding means for the unit taking the survey. The table can be ordered either: (1) The number of standard deviations below the comparison group mean (aka "z-score"),   (2) Descending order by your squadron's survey item means, or (3) In the order that the survey was given.   A yellow flag appearing in the "text" block of a survey item indicates that your squadron's mean is less than the comparative group mean, but within ½ standard deviation below it. A red flag appearing in the "text" block of a survey item indicates that your squadron's mean is more than ½ standard deviation below the comparative group mean.

10. How to print from the display screen: The AFCMRS webpage is basically divided into a left-sided panel (dark blue background) and a right-sided panel (light blue background). To print from the right-sided panel: (1) highlight anything (e.g., a title, a word, etc.) in the right panel, (2) go into "File" in the top left corner of the computer screen, and (3) "Print". Note, the colors within the panel have been selected to provide adequate contrast for black and white printers.

11. How to make a PowerPoint slide from the display screen: The AFCMRS webpage is basically divided into a left-sided panel (dark blue background) and a right-sided panel (light blue background). To make a PowerPoint slide from the right-sided panel: (1) press the "Print Screen" key (usually located next to the "F1" through "F12" keys) on your computer keyboard, (2) open a blank slide in PowerPoint, (3) go into "Edit" in the top left corner on the computer screen, and (4) "Paste" the screen capture into the blank PowerPoint slide.

12. Open-ended Survey Items: Note, the last four survey items in the OPS, MX, and SUP surveys provide for open-ended responses. This allows respondents the opportunity to provide the SQ/CC any additional input they desire and type it in their own words. SQ/CCs have found these responses to be of great value.  To see these responses, select the "Open Ended Responses" button which is available on most survey results pages.

13. First-step for SQ/CC : Recommend you first make a printed copy of all the survey items prior to reviewing each individual survey item on-line. That way, you can see other survey items that may be related in character (e.g., one survey item dealing with "adequacy of resources" and a second survey item dealing with "cutting corners"). Do this by: (1) clicking on "SAMPLE SURVEY" on the left side of the screen, (2) select a survey type, (3) highlight anything (e.g., a title, a word, etc.) in the right panel, (4) go into "File" in the top left corner of the computer screen, and (5) "Print".