COMPLIANCE IS A SCALE

“They will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit.” —Alexander Hamilton

The Coast Guard has always been a preventative organization. As a lifesaving service, prevention is the greater share of effort that saves lives. The harrowing rescues & officer presence throughout the marine transportation system are important. 

As are our agency relationships to operate on the border, in trafficking zones, & in combat. But the soul of the service, is Prevention. This goes back to Alexander #Hamilton.

INITIAL INSTRUCTIONS

Secretary Hamilton’s “Letter of Instruction” is for sailors pushing the service’s limit. And, he wanted to ensure those Officers were circumspect in their duties. And the Coast Guard gained more legislation BECAUSE circumspection is a leadership philosophy. From the beginning.

The law prescribed how those Commanding Officers would operate. The law carried the ability for those men to dispatch & approach the enemies of America’s freedom. The law was our refuge, our strength.

And still is.

The law sets the scale of #USCG actions to enhance compliance, safety, & preparedness for the nation. And the two ways to face that law, defines Compliance as a Scale

NATURE OF THE SCALE

The Coast Guard is the only military service, charged with lifesaving at home. We don't close with, engage, or destroy any enemy. We pursue a safety culture & underlying compliance infrastructure to prevent loss of life.

This becomes our scale, and the wages of our work.

That scale has two plates. The big plate, the most known plate, is the law. Regulations are written across several US Codes & authorizations. You can classify Coast Guard Officers as being “Title 14”, “Title 33”, “Title 46”, & other titles.

The truth is, the way a #Cutterman weighs the scale, is not the same way a #Prevention Officer weighs that scale. Nor a Response Officer. Common in name & uniform, there is great atypicality between how each acts in their duties. Those tenuous bonds are a different conversation.

Although the specific tactics are different, the general principles brought into action apply. The law prescribes the minimum safety & operating environment. The law is a prescriptive nature of compliance.

HOLDING FAST TO PREVENT

Prescription means the law is a ending point. Coasties do what they can to help industry, users, & the actual environment meet a standard. That standard best keeps people, environment, property, & the economy safe.

Not only safe, but able to maintain steady state through a dynamic range of operations. To be resilient against small scale disruptions. To prevent the loss of life, anywhere across the system.

Through the International Maritime Organization, we talk about SOLAS: Safety of Life at Sea. But for the Coast Guard, the more appropriate statement of #SOLAS is “Safety of Life Across the System”. Anyone in a space the Coast Guard manages, whether at home or abroad, can expect a minimal level of safety.

This first plate of the scale is important. It’s the medicine of law, regulation, policy, & doctrine setting a safety culture & rhythm. It presents users with a context & language to best operate, in the capacity they want to operate. Now granted, there are new & improving ways to engage the maritime community. Autonomous transportation, semi-submersible cruises, #LNG fueling & transport, maritime border operations. All these events force the Coast Guard to refine its already precarious hold across a dozen US Codes.

ANCHORING COMPLIANCE INTO ACTION

And this then, becomes the other plate of the scale. When accidents happen, weaknesses exposing possible flaws in the system, the Coast Guard responds. There’s the unfortunate saying: #Regulations are written in blood. Sometimes, these accidents happen because the law isn't prescriptive enough. Or because the law didn't hold.

No structure of laws can define every prescriptive action possible. No structure of laws can prevent every accident from originating across the system. For this scale, the law is a descriptive component. On this plate of the scale, the law is the starting point. Not the end point.

Which can be frustrating—because this plate weighs what actions circumvented the law. And it must weigh how to best reconfigure the law so safety can be better. And if law can’t amended, the question becomes what can make the system safer to protect life.

Law as baseline; law as breaching point.

Because the law is only one factor. The most important accident factors, are those close to the action. Actions & inactions of those on scene, plus the active law & policies, create a thru line to an accident.

How we train members to respect & weigh the scale, is the highest level of skill in being good Coasties. It brings the entirety of the service to bear to save lives, & enhance compliance among those who put life at risk.

THE CAUTIOUS ARBITER 

The Coast Guard patrols & interdicts, & puts in place a baseline of safety to the maritime public. These two plates detail the level of caution each Coast Guard member has in their duties. And it describes what the public can expect to interact with our service.

Not only that, our role gains an even added wait. We act with caution; we act in arbitration. As reactive or response driven the service may seem to be, that’s only one part of what we do. That’s only have the set of solutions. There’s an other have, which provides the balance & context for why we move, when we choose to move.

This scale, is what must be preserved as #military members, to protect the freedom of our countrymen.