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Quest for Zero success

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kristina Barrett
  • AFCENT Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --   Air Force Central Command had zero ground safety fatalities and permanent partial disabilities from ground safety mishaps in its area of operations since March 2011.

This significant milestone was achieved despite the high operations tempo of deployed locations and can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of the deployed ground safety professionals, supervisors, and commanders, said Senior Master Sgt. Theresa Lex, AFCENT Ground Safety Manager. A major change to the business of safety was the standardization of the safety programs.

“This allowed ground safety professionals to know what to expect when they deployed and to run the programs just like at home station,” Lex explained. “Ground safety specialists could spend more time in the field and educate Air Force members about safety."

“When my tenure began July 2, 2011, our deployed locations consisted of more than 195,000 personnel. Now, there are approximately 165,000,” she added.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate each and every one of our 1S0’s [ground safety professionals] who have deployed to the AFCENT area of responsibility and their ground safety offices, as well as the major command’s ground safety staff for helping the AOR to achieve these outstanding results,” said Bill Parsons, Air Force Chief of Ground Safety.

The last ground safety fatality in the AOR was in February 2011. This mishap involved a member that was driving a low speed vehicle, struck a curb, became airborne, and struck a light pole. The Airman was ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal internal injuries.

As a whole, the Air Force had 215 fatalities and permanent partial disabilities from July 2011 until August 2014.