MCLB Barstow earns coveted top safety award

Photo By Laurie Pearson | Mission First - Safety Always Think Safety #MCLBBarstow  

BARSTOW, CA, UNITED STATES

07.22.2021

Story by Laurie Pearson  

Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow

Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow earns the coveted Secretary of the Navy Safety Excellence Award, for fiscal year 2020.
“This award is a direct reflection of MCLB Barstow’s dedication of Safety first,” said David Romero, lead Safety & Occupational Health specialist. “The entire Safety Program is looked at for this award. So, it’s the entire installation that is involved in earning this award.”
“The safety training, the programs, the culture of our base are what wins the installations’ safety awards,” said Sara Montez-Diaz, Safety and Occupational Health specialist. “The Voluntary Protection Program drives a lot these awards. MCLB Barstow’s remarkable success is in part attributed to the earning and maintaining of VPP status, to include three star certifications to date.”
The SecNav level award is top tier and in order to be competitive, the base has to have been nominated by Headquarters Marine Corps. The Safety staff first entered a packet for nomination to earn the Marine Corps Safety Award which was endorsed by the Commanding General of Marine Corps Installations West.
“After submitting for the Marine Corps Safety Achievement Award they determine if we meet the criteria to move forward to the next step,” Diaz explained. “Once nominated, winners are determined by whether or not they are providing all of the core safety services to all of its tenants and to what level. Also, aside from what the base does for themselves, evaluators look at how bases work to improve the safety of other bases and the Marine Corps as a whole.”
The safety office puts together the award packets based on all criteria of Safety Program, which means it is the entire base and the personnel on the base that make the base competitive for the awards, with a focus on Safety First.
“Once the packet was complete for the Marine Corps Achievements Award, it was approved by the commanding officer, prior to being sent to the Commanding General of MCIWEST for endorsement,” Romero said. “Then higher headquarters determined that we were to be placed in the running for the Secretary of the Navy’s Safety Excellence Award.”
Some additional contributing factors for the base to qualify then earn the award are:
• Employees working in a safe manner
• People following rules and guidelines intended to keep them safe
• Always remembering that safety is everyone’s responsibilities
“The safety program aboard MCLB Barstow sustains itself because of the people who make things happen and keep each other safe,” Diaz said. “By knowing that an employee can say that something is an unsafe act and stop their co-worker on the job, employees keep each other safe. This is what taking safety into your hands is all about.”
The official awards ceremony will be held at the Pentagon, in the District of Columbia. During the ceremony, the Secretary of the Navy presents the award to representatives of the base command staff. The date and time are yet to be announced. In addition to a certificate, the SECNAV will present a plaque and a SECNAV flag. Once presented the flag, the base is authorized to fly it for one year
“The award simply means we are doing our job, and we are getting the support we need from the leadership of the base to do our jobs effectively,” Romero said. “It also means that the employees have a ‘safety mindset’ when performing there jobs. We have a safety culture here aboard the base with management, employees and our Safety office that shows we are all striving to meet the same goal, which is to be safe.”
“The goal, at the end of the day, is to go home in one piece and the culture that we have shown in Barstow is that Safety will continue to be first priority so we can achieve this goal,” Diaz said.

• Date Taken: 07.22.2021
• Date Posted: 08.03.2021 16:13
• Story ID: 402369
• Location: BARSTOW, CA, US