KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The Air Force Safety Center received the National Safety Council's Green Cross for Safety Excellence Award during ceremonies May 12, 2016. Maj. Gen. Andrew M. Mueller, chief of Air Force safety, and Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Franklin, safety career field manager, accepted the award on behalf of the center.
Two proactive safety initiatives - Organizational Safety Assessments and Air Force Combined Mishap Reduction Surveys -- put Air Force safety in the NSC spotlight along with honorees United Airlines Corporate Safety and Dr. Gary Smith with the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
"I was very impressed by the level of world-class organizations represented at the NSC awards ceremony and the level of success each has achieved in safety," Mueller said. "It speaks well of Air Force safety to be recognized among entities of this caliber that are as committed to safety as the Air Force."
"The Air Force Safety Center, United Airlines Corporate Safety and Dr. Smith have demonstrated a commitment to safety in our workplaces, communities and transportation," said NSC president and CEO Deborah A.P. Hersman, in an NSC news release. "They recognize that safety is a journey, not a destination and continuously ask, 'What more can we do?'"
"We wanted to know how to assess the safety culture of the Air Force, and we have some smart people who went out and did it with the OSA and AFCMRS," Mueller said.
Based on the theory that strong safety cultures reduce mishaps, the OSA and AFCMRS are designed to provide Air Force leaders with findings and recommendations with direct application to the safety climate, culture, leadership and supervision of their organizations. A multidisciplinary human factors team develops and leads the delivery of these safety culture tools that produce near real-time evaluations of safety culture, from the lowest-to-highest level worker.
OSAs have been completed for major commands, wings and groups with missions as diverse as airlift, nuclear, special operations, fighter operations and headquarters functions.
Results of the programs and their effect on the safety culture include:
· The main goal of the OSA is to provide commanders an assessment of the safety culture within their units in order to build upon existing risk management efforts, ultimately to ensure the protection of their people and resources. The OSA team is managed and led by experienced human factors experts augmented by subject matter experts from aviation, occupational, weapons, and other operational and safety professions.
· In fiscal 2015, more than 400 commanders received personal debriefs. In anonymous follow-up assessments of the value of the survey, more than 80 percent of commanders rated the feedback as useful or very useful.
· AFCMRSs are administered by the safety center's Human Factors Division. The survey enjoys participation rates of between 70 and 100 percent. AFCMRS gives commanders a means to survey their operations, maintenance, and support personnel regarding safety issues and receive real-time feedback that can be used to identify and correct subtle organizational conditions that increase mishap potential.
The resulting data of OSAs and AFCRMSs is analyzed and experts of the Human Factors Division brief the findings and recommendations for the commander. The brief and data are the property of the requesting commander to be used locally to improve safety and mission effectiveness.
"Mishap reduction, enthusiastic acceptance of OSA and AFCMRS and positive attitudes of the participating Airmen define the success of these human factors tools to foster a strong safety culture," Mueller said. "Any progress in mishap reduction is truly a result of concerted efforts of committed safety personnel, Air Force leaders and the Airmen who accomplish the Air Force mission."