Photo By Keith Hayes | (Left) Rob Stickley and Steven Barela, both Heavy Mobile Equipment Mechanics, use a...... read more read more
The specialists at the Safety Office are working to create a safety mindset among the employees at Production Plant Barstow, Marine Depot Maintenance Command, aboard the Yermo Annex of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif.
“We give the artisans the tools to be safe,” said Ted Fisher, the supervisor of the Safety Office at PPB. “We’re a small office so we can’t be everywhere, so that’s why we’re trying to create a ‘culture of safety;’ a thought process where their minds automatically go to the safest way to complete a task. Not just on the job but at home, so they don’t put up Christmas lights on their house in 60 mile an hour winds or deep fry a turkey in the garage.”
“We do what is called ‘process analysis,’” Fisher said. That means watching how the artisans do their jobs and determining if that is the safest way to do it, he explained
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“That’s why I like being part of the Safety Office,” Fisher continued. “You get to be an engineer, an environmentalist, a safety specialist, a supervisor and a mechanic. You get to do just about everything when you work in Safety. That’s one reason why I picked this profession.”
Fisher said they are constantly training the artisans at the plant.
“We train for fall protection, respiratory, confined space, hearing conservation, Personal Protective Equipment; the whole gamut of safety requirements we have here at this plant,” he said. “Our office is responsible for administering 27 different programs related to safety.”
The native of Canton, Ohio said he gets an early start, usually about 5:45 a.m.
“I’ll walk the floor in the morning and check before the workers get here looking for any violation or anything that can cause a problem.”
Safety also works closely with the Environmental and Production Analysis branches in support of trades and the mission at Production Plant Barstow.
“We go out and ask the artisans which processes concern them the most about what they do,” Fisher said. “Is it putting the cab on one of the big trucks or is it picking up the tires and putting them on?”
“We are constantly looking at processes to improve the product as well as the safety of the people who work here,” he said.
During a tour of the craneway, Fisher stopped at the Logistics Vehicle System Replacement truck line, currently being refurbished at the plant, to provide an idea of what kinds of work his office does.
“These (up-armored) cabs … will be put on the truck frame then the artisans will come by later and put these big bullet proof doors on that are quite heavy,” he explained. “So now instead of just one lift it becomes three lifts, and that creates more potential for injury for the artisan. That’s what we’re trying to minimize.”
“Another program we’ve instituted above and beyond the Marine Corps requirements is the small cranes called CATIII,” Fisher said. “We safety train the artisans on their use every three years. The cranes are continuously being kept up by our maintenance crew and tested for safety.”
“Safety is paramount,” agrees Rob Stickley, a 4- year veteran of PPB and a Heavy Mobile Equipment Mechanic who thinks the Safety Office is doing a good job. “Everybody wants to go home at night in one piece.”
“It’s pretty good actually. It’s been a big improvement,” said Steven Barela, who has seven years under his belt as a HEM at PPB. He thinks the changes made to worker safety by the office have had a positive impact.
The Safety Office also administers the medical surveillance program affecting about 300 workers at the plant.
“We check to make sure their job hasn’t injured their hearing, their backs, or their lungs if they’re working around chemical substances or the blast tanks,” Fisher said.
The work by the Safety Office and the CPI branch has paid off in a big way for the facility.
“This year we broke a record where we have not had a reportable injury in more than four months,” Fisher said.
“We’ve pretty much reduced our hazards reporting by one-third, especially on the electrical side of the house. (The base) used to write us up for a good 70 or 80 violations, and more than half those would be electrical. Now we’re down to 20 violations with four or five of those electrical.”
Fisher said it all comes down to the artisans and workers investing in their own safety and the safety of their coworkers.
Gone are the days of a veteran artisan objecting to safety personnel telling them how to do their job safer.
“Now when we go out there they stop and ask us what we can do about the situation and we talk and come up with a conclusion and we all walk away the better for it.”
A veteran of the Navy as a chief warrant officer 4 during the first Gulf War, Fisher said he had an experience as a landing craft air cushion pilot that launched his career and fueled his passion for safety.
One of the drivers under Fisher’s command failed to properly secure an inoperative M1A1 Abrams tank.
“The tank was broken, so they couldn’t put the hydraulic brakes on it, so they had to use a manual brake, and they did that wrong,” Fisher recalled. “When they left the beach they got into 80 feet of water and were transferring fuel from in the craft and it rolled off the back.
“There was a young Marine in the tank who didn’t make it out,” he said. “You only have a couple of seconds to open that hatch before the water pressure prevents you from doing it. I was his boss, I knew him and his family, he had two wonderful children and he was a great guy.
“I came to the realization that day that if I was going to keep good people from making a bad decision about safety, then working in the safety field is what I was going to do,” Fisher said.
He said one of the goals of the Safety Office and everyone at the plant is to earn the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) highest award for safety, the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star.
“I have no hesitation saying that by 2020 or 2021 we’ll have a VPP Star,” Fisher said.
The Safety Office has improved, the safety of Production Plant Barstow, but Fisher said it is a team effort. “The artisans, branch heads, and supervisors really make the safety program work. If someone sees a bad situation going south really quick, somebody needs to say something. We have to watch each other’s backs and take care of each other.”
| Date Taken: | 03.23.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2017 15:32 |
| Story ID: | 227868 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CA, US |
| Hometown: | CANTON, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Creating a culture of safety at Production Plant Barstow, by Keith Hayes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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