Safety first is the spirit and motivation behind the first-of-a-kind app at Newport News Shipbuilding: Observe NNS.

In June, New Construction Aircraft Carrier became the first program to widely adapt the application. The Observe NNS team hosted town halls with the teams from John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) as well as Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81) to discuss best uses of the application and get feedback. The leaders were given a specific checklist in Observe NNS to use as part of their general surveillances.

In the weeks that followed, the Observe NNS team and others were available to troubleshoot issues and collect feedback as leaders used the application in their daily work. This feedback was instrumental and resulted in six new application features that improved the observation process and user experience.

The New Construction Aircraft Carrier team continues to build momentum around this new app through frequent communication of findings. It even held a friendly internal competition of the most checklists completed.

The Virginia-Class Submarine and In-Service Aircraft Carrier programs will embark on a similar journey in the coming weeks. Through Observe NNS, shipbuilders have identified safety deficiencies, and as use of the app ramps up, shipbuilders continue to learn and refine the process and the application, continuing to lead with safety first.

If you have any questions about Observe NNS, please visit the Observe NNS SharePoint site or send an email to [email protected].