75th Air Base Wing goes full force with VPP

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Melissa Dearstone
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  The Airmen and civilians of the 75th Air Base Wing are accepting the responsibilities for their own safety and making their workplaces safer each day by instilling the safety minded culture of the Voluntary Protection Program.

The 75th ABW is trying to create an atmosphere where employees and management at all levels can spot safety risks and feel comfortable and empowered to bring the safety concerns to leadership so that they can be resolved in a timely manner.

To create this safety culture, the 75th ABW is modeling its efforts after a Safe Site Challenge program designed at Warner Robbins Air Force Base.

Dean Olney, VPP manager of the Ogden Air Logistics Center said the Safe Site Challenge program is designed to help organizations implement the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Programs by breaking otherwise daunting tasks down into incremental and measurable stages.

There are three stages of VPP that each unit in the 75th ABW must achieve which are bronze, silver and gold. These stages will measure the progress of each unit to ensure the safest workplace.

"The goal is to have all workplaces achieve the bronze level by the end of 2010," said Ron James, Safety Representative 75th ABW Safety. "Currently eleven workplaces have already achieved this goal."

The 75th ABW has made goals and objectives that will lead them on the right path to achieve all stages of VPP. Their goal is to preserve combat power by decreasing workplace injuries/illnesses, lost workdays and federal worker compensation costs.

Mr. James said to achieve this goal the 75th ABW is focusing on three objectives which are to have a fully functioning Supervisor Safety Program at each work location, to have program visibility so everyone is aware of hazards and sees that the problems are being dealt with in a timely manner and for employees to provide quality control for the hazard analysis program.

"In the end, the culture that develops within the 75th ABW will not only improves safety, but it also has been shown in industry to have numerous side benefits such as increased productivity, better moral and an organization to meet its objectives," said Mr. James.