Hill to conduct its annual ESOHCAMP audit May 2 - 13

  • Published
  • By Barbara Fisher
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  With checklists in hand, a team of more than 60 Hill Air Force Base people will divide up and spread across the base and even into Utah's west desert May 2-13 for the base's annual ESOHCAMP.

But it's not the kind of "camp" that calls for tents, sleeping bags and camp stoves. ESOHCAMP is an acronym for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment and Management Program.

It involves everything from visiting and running through checklists with workers to going as far as looking into trash cans or "dumpster diving" to see if fluorescent light tubes or aerosol cans have been disposed of properly.

Often thought of as an inspection, ESOHCAMP is actually more of an assessment or an audit, says Joe Linford, an Air Force environmental lawyer who serves as Hill AFB's ESOHCAMP program manager.

"ESOHCAMP takes a look at how well the base is complying with all federal, state and Air Force environmental, safety and occupational health laws, regulations and directives," he said. "It's a terrific tool for gauging the success of these important programs and for helping the base maintain compliance with them."

Because ESOHCAMP only occurs once a year, Hill workers may not be as familiar with this as with the two programs it complements -- the Voluntary Protection Program, or VPP, which encourages leadership and employees to work together for the safety and health of the work force, and the Environmental Management System, or EMS, which is committed to protecting the environment while sustaining the Air Force mission.

This year's ESOHCAMP will be a Tier 2 assessment. There are three tiers, or types, of ESOHCAMP assessments:
  • Tier 1 -- routine facility and workplace process reviews done quarterly with supervisors.
  • Tier 2 -- annual base-wide evaluation performed by program managers from the 75th Civil Engineer Group Environmental Management Division.
  • Tier 3 --held at least every three years and done by an installation's parent organization (in Hill AFB's case, by Air Force Materiel Command); primarily focuses on EMS.

Any deficiencies found during ESOHCAMP are noted as findings that are tracked throughout the year as units work to correct any problems. "Our job is to identify the root cause for each finding, so changes can be recommended and made," Linford said.

ESOHCAMP will cover all facilities on Hill, including those belonging to both fighter wings and other Defense Department associate units on the base. The Utah Test and Training Range and the Air Force facility at Little Mountain are also included.

"ESOHCAMP offers us a chance to find and correct any deficiencies before they can turn into major compliance problems," Linford said.