Photo By Keith Hayes | (Left) Ruby Adams, Region 9 Voluntary Protection Program Special Government Employee...... read more read more
Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow has won the 2015 Secretary of the Navy Safety Excellence Award for Ashore Safety, cementing its reputation as one of the leading Department of Defense military installations in employee safety worldwide.
Dave Romero, lead safety specialist, MCLB Barstow safety office, said the base has won the SECNAV award seven times since 2007.
He credited the supervisors and employees with maintaining the positive attitude of safety aboard the base which led to the installation achieving the award.
“We have a safety culture here aboard the base with management, employees and our union that shows we are all striving to meet the same goal, which is to be safe,” he said.
Romero also pointed out that he is one of seven people in the base safety office, including Ray Aguilar, safety manager, who continuously work to maintain that culture.
“Between all of us we ensure our programs and all of our facilities are being maintained in a safe manner,” he said. “We push that guidance out to the supervisors of the various departments, and the supervisors are the ones who actually implement the programs by giving the departments and employees guidance and knowledge.”
Romero said the base is no stranger to winning safety awards. This year alone MCLB Barstow has been recognized for their safety programs by also winning the 2016 Marine Corps Warrior Preservation Award and the 2016 Navy League General James L. Jones Safety Award. The safety office also played a major role in MCLB Barstow being awarded the 2016 Commander in Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence.
Despite the plethora of safety awards, Romero said they never take safety for granted.
“There is pride in this, it doesn’t get to be ‘old hat,’” Romero said. “The award recognizes all of the hard work that we put in as an organization day in and day out, reviewing (standard operating procedures), reviewing programs, doing program assessments, going out and conducting inspections, and making on-the-spot corrections.”
“All of that shows that we’re committed, and we’re striving to have a safe organization, and when you put all of those elements together, and you work hard, you achieve this award,” he said.
Ray Aguilar, safety manager, MCLB Barstow, said Ruby Adams is a supply technician, who in her role as the Region 9 Voluntary Protection Program Special Government Employee of the Year, was personally invited by Col. Sekou S. Karega, base commander, to accompany him and Romero to District of Columbia to accept the award from the Honorable Janine Davidson, the Undersecretary of the Navy.
“It was an honor, it truly was,” Adams said. “With the colonel, the sergeant major and Dave Romero of the safety office, we definitely represent this organization well for the Safety and Health Program of both the Marines and the civilians aboard this installation.”
Adams stressed that everyone plays a crucial role in maintaining the safety culture of the base.
“The employee has the right to tell the coworker ‘You’re doing an unsafe act, don’t do it, stop operating that equipment unsafely’,” Adams said. “They will listen to their coworkers, they may not like it, but if they know it’s wrong they’ll take action to correct the unsafe act.”
Aguilar reinforced Adams’ statements and amplified them.
“We’ve had an employee spot a contractor working on the base,” he said, “and they came by the safety office and said ‘I’ve noticed there’s an individual doing a roofing job, and I think they’re required to have fall protection, but they don’t have any fall restraints. Can you look into it?’"
“We’ll approach that employee and have a discussion and strongly suggest they take appropriate safety precautions,” Aguilar said.
Romero said the base’s safety record is such that other organizations, both military, and private businesses, seek out the safety office’s advice.
“The base is a model for other places to follow,” he noted. “The SECNAV award, the Warrior Preservation Award and our being the first Marine Corps installation to achieve VPP Star Site status, all of those things put together is what makes us an organization to be emulated.”
Romero also credits the base’s intensive medical surveillance program with catching and correcting possible job site hazards before they get to the point of injuring an employee.
“Our industrial hygienist identifies the high-risk jobs,” he said. “An example of those high- risk jobs are where employees are exposed to hearing loss, or where they’re exposed to whole body vibration, or heat stress, or where they’re exposed to bodily fluids.”
“We ensure that these people are being medically screened and tested on an annual basis to ensure that they’re not being exposed to any extreme conditions,” Romero said.
“We also do hazard assessments of all the jobs being conducted on base, and we make recommendations to the supervisors as to what type of personal protective equipment we recommend that they use,” he said. “Because ultimately, it’s the supervisors who make the decisions as to what type of PPE the employees should use.”
Romero said as a result of the medical surveillance program and medical exams, the base has one of the highest compliance rates in the Marine Corps regarding safety standards and adherence to safety regulations.
“The employees are trained, and the medical staff reviews their records,” he said. “Through this review we’ve achieved a 96 percent compliance with the regulations.”
Adams noted the safety culture at MCLB has brought much visibility to the installation for go-to information on mentoring other organizations to achieve the same level of safety.
“They recognize we are a VPP Star site and have gone through the recertification process, so they tap into our organization for Best Practices and noteworthy items that makes us stand out,” she said. “Sharing is a key component of the VPP mentoring program as well. We share information to mentored sites, so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and we take back good information from other sites, as well.”
Aguilar said MCLBB comes up for VPP recertification in December; their second go around for maintaining the base as a VPP Star site since it became the first in the Marine Corps to achieve the recognition in 2008.
Aguilar said the reason it is crucial to maintaining a safe working environment when all is said and done, is saving lives and improving the quality of life aboard the base.
“If you don’t come home in one piece,” he said, “what’s the point of going to work in the first place?”
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2016 12:44 |
| Story ID: | 208042 |
| Location: | BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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