MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Air Combat Command recently announced 23rd Wing Safety as the ACC Wing Safety (SE) Program of the Year for fiscal year 2021.
23d Wing SE compiled all of their attributes from aviation safety, weapons safety and occupational safety to compete against every other safety unit in ACC. This safety award recognized the 23rd Wing SE unit for their collective efforts in mishap prevention.
Among the vast number of units in the ACC, there was one thing that set 23rd Wing SE apart.
“It was a culmination of all of our efforts between flight safety, weapons safety and occupational safety throughout the past year,” said Jason Hughes, safety and occupational health manager. “We have cleaned up a lot of our processes, internally and externally, and built relationships locally, at the 15th Air Force level and ACC level with our peers at those organizations. Certainly, it’s the effort of everybody here collectively that (won) this award.”
Throughout the process, 23rd Wing SE excelled at mishap prevention.
All of the shops worked on being more proactive by addressing a potential problem before it became one. This allowed safety to prevent an accident before it even happened, Tiffany said.
For instance, Air Force Safety challenged all safety units to be 85% compliant with training of an on base motorcycle course by Oct. 1. The 23rd Wing SE unit had 94% compliance by July 2021 and up to 99% by October -- exceeding Air Force expectation.
The work of 23rd Wing SE not only satisfies expectations within their career field, but also provides exceptional benefit to the base.
The aviation safety unit organized the first-ever Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) dog program with no cost. This aided the BASH program in bird mitigation which reduced the threat to aviation safety and thus Airmen and assets of Moody AFB.
“For the office as a whole, this award is great motivation for us to keep doing what we have been doing this past year and think of ways to continuously improve,” Hughes said. “Our main question is ‘How do we keep Team Moody safe?’ and ‘How do we keep Moody as a whole safer going forward for 2022?’”
The 23rd Wing SE continues to move forward with their success as Moody AFB grows into a Lead Wing.
“In the year that this (award) incorporated, we were doing a lot of things at the wing level, with agile operations,” said Peter Falkenhausen, 23rd Wing SE weapons safety manager. “The things that we glean from those safety interactions, we’re now incorporating into the new A-Staff and the development of the new Lead Wing (concept).”
“What we did in the past is now helping us with what we will to do in the future,” Falkenhausen continued.