KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Since 2012, the Department of the Air Force has partnered with OSHA in the Safe + Sound week campaign. This partnership encourages members to maintain a culture where safety is an operational priority that directly supports mission readiness. The use of the Safe + Sound campaign elements in the workplace help prevent injuries that take our civilian work force out of their critical roles and active-duty personnel out of the fight. The intent is to ensure value added safety programs and processes are maintained and ready for every mission.
This year’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s annual Safe + Sound campaign runs from August 10-16. The nationwide campaign helps workplaces focus on proactive safety, bringing employees and supervisors at all levels together to identify and eliminate hazards before harm occurs.
Safe + Sound is built on three core elements that are designed to be flexible for both industrial settings and military operational environments.
Management Leadership element: Ensures resources, time and delegated authority are given to safety programs, it’s a top-down commitment from commanders, directors and senior leaders demonstrating that it is not a check-box core value, but a commitment to support a vital safety and health programs and encourage employees to develop the same mindset.
Worker Participation element: Leverages the frontline expertise of workers performing the mission in identifying and reporting risks and hazards to leadership. Involving workers at the onset of developing safety programs and identifying potential hazards associated with their workplaces ensures their buy in and makes them vested in the process.
Find and Fix Hazards element: It’ a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating, and controlling workplace hazards that will directly reduce mishaps and preserve combat capability. By using a proactive systematic approach, keeping up with emerging technologies, processes while training new workers on hazards of the job before they cause an injury or illness, is far more effective.
Complacency is one of the Department of the Air Force’s operational risks. When personnel become overly familiar with routine tasks (e.g., flight line operations, munitions handling or any job), the focus on their surroundings and personal safety can slip. In fiscal year 2025, the DAF saw 4,032 on-duty injuries with aircraft maintenance ranking at the top.
The Safe + Sound campaign focus is to combat complacency by encouraging members to participate in challenges like "Crisis Communication," “Find 4” or “Safety Shout-Out”. These are intended to empower members to halt operations if they spot a hazard, this helps to keep a safety mindset at the forefront of the mission. The operational readiness of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force relies heavily on individual safety, discipline, and training. By making adherence to safety standards as a common practice during training, Airmen and Guardians preserve critical combat capabilities, increase aircraft availability, and keep preventable mishaps from occurring. Prioritizing workplace safety has a direct effect on safeguarding our most valuable military assets. This proven, valued process ensures both branches maintain the combined strength and lethality required to deter adversaries and win future conflicts.
During this time members can ensure there are ways to communicate when natural disasters occur and establish a baseline decision model on when to evacuate, stay put or wait for further instructions. Worker involvement provides an opportunity to expand on crisis communications and refine or build escape plans. It’s a good time to review and update safety programs, re-evaluate your workplace for hazards. Ifa hazard is identified, fix it or report it to someone who can.
“Building a strong safety culture within a unit or work center pays dividends in manpower and resources. said Keith Lear, chief, DAF Occupational Safety. “By working together to identify and fix hazards, by making safety processes a part of our culture, we support each other, the mission and the Department of the Air Force.”
To get involved in the DAF’s Safe + Sound campaign challenges check out the website: https://www.safety.af.mil/Divisions/Occupational-Safety-Division/Safe-Sound/