Since my current squadron opened we’ve had an day occurrence log. I’ve personally signed it many times, opening and closing the building and after Cadet Bloggs tripped and cut their knee, ect, but our new OC has decided that it is antiquated and unnecessary, and has scraped it.
Antiquated I get, a big book of stuff that happened over a decade ago that (hopefully) no one will need to look at. It the unnecessary bit I don’t get. What if someone breaks in or the building burns down between parade nights and it turns out a CI visited the sqn to pick up the pair of glasses they left and turned on the heating or opened a window while they were there.
I guess I have two questions:
- Does your sqn have an occurrence log?
Or
- Why don’t you/why was it scraped?
No unit I’ve ever been on in 20 years as a CFAV has ever had one. I was a Wing HSO and never heard of one in any of those units I covered either.
I don’t ever remember one as a cadet or being made aware of one.
Edit: Camps are the only place I’ve seen them.
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Not known of a unit that has one within the last 30 years in 2 different regions.
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Unless it’s an asbestos book I doubt it would help in that situation!
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Our Sqn use to have one up to the turn of the century but then there was a fire. (Seriously - Army cadets set fire to the huts in the TA centre).
Couldn’t get a replacement when we requested one as they were apparently no longer in use.
Now we just use emails to self record occurrences & a paper sign in sheet/register to record the extra hours people attend the Sqn outside of parade nights /Bader events.
We have an occurrences book, but it’s never used… It might occasionally get an entry if a 492 gets filled out, but that’s about it!
We keep an accident log (I’m fairly sure that is a requirement still?).
No other sort of occurrence log though, other than WhatsApp messages…
I thought you just did the form and sent it off to Wing? Certainly that’s all we ever had.
AFAIK keeping an accident log is an HSE requirement, that’s all we use our occurrences log for.
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But wouldn’t the form which is then recorded centrally fulfill the same purpose?
We certainly don’t keep an occurrence log at work, we just fill in an electronic form.
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Hmm, that’s a fair point. Now you’ve said it I’d be inclined to agree 
I’ve seen it twice on sqns in my 20+ years in the corps.
One was on a naval base, the other fancied its self as its own RAF station…
Both had an NCO dedicated to being by the door all Evening, to record who arrived, who left, what colour the sky was, how many sugars Fg Off Bloggs had in their tea… Hardly a fulfilling cadet experience…
Both have done away with them… Well, last time I checked…
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We have a squadron day book, but it’s more something to note down interesting or significant occasions that we can later add to the squadron history, rather than anything day-to-day or ‘operational’.
Interestingly, we were recipients of an Ofsted inspection a few years ago. One thing they mentioned was how do we communicate safeguarding concerns to each other. One of their suggestions was a way of documenting in some sort of log. I think that’s perhaps how the safeguarding forms came about. Used to have them at camps but again, relatively pointless. Get rid, pointless extra admin.
I had a log when on a Sqn.
Though, beyond staff signing in and out (and stating that they had completed the closing checks) it was hard to get anyone bar me to remember to fill it in. The ideal was that it should be a record of everything of note which happened that evening and was supposed to be the task of the Duty Officer / Duty Cdt NCO.
“Sqn Ldr Bloggs arrived to visit OC”
“Fire drill conducted”
“Cdt Smith accidentally put the chair leg through the wall…”
…That kind of thing.
But with it only being used to sign in at the beginning and out at the end I always felt it a waste.
It was at least, helpful (as has been said earlier) to see who had been the last person responsible when I arrived to find the rear fire door open, or the tap left running, &c.
I’d have the duty officer and duty Cdt NCO complete the walk-around together and both sign to say that the checks were complete. Two pairs of eyes to confirm that, yes the doors were closed…
It turned out that the fire door was broken and had popped open during a storm.
I have though never seen any regulations which requires its use.
CFAVs: “reduce the admin burden”
Also CFAVs: “We complete a time consuming, onerous and inefficient paper log of every time some one so much as farts”.
Is it any wonder we don’t get what we want from HQAC often?
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Depends on what you consider to be a burden.
I like a log. Maybe it’s the seafarer in me that is just used to it.
But when it comes to needing to check back on something, 30 seconds spent writing two brief lines in a book if something important happens, doesn’t seem like a burden to me… Just a part of normal simple admin.
This daily occurence log is.
- Nonsense.
- Pointless.
- Our own worst enemy.
Cease and desist this nonsense effective immedietly. Absolute waste of time, effort and nugatory in name and nature.
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I have to agree, writing a single sentence to say that the Sector Officer arrived (and was appropriately briefed on local HSE procedures) or that the tap is dripping (and a request for it to be fixed sent off) is useful to look back at. Its not the thing that happened that is important, but rather what was done about it and who took those actions and when. That way when someone complains you can pin down the problem more easily. But I guess its like radio logs, you probably should do one, but no one does.
