SAN DIEGO – Navy Medicine West (NMW) received high marks for the Safety and Occupational Health Management Evaluation (SOHME) in the results BUMED released Dec. 21, 2017.
SOHME is a triennial assessment that ensures mission readiness for the Navy and Marine Corps workforce.
The safety and occupational assessment team from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) visited Navy Medicine West to evaluate how well NMW’s safety and occupational health team is implementing its safety and occupational health programs at the region and medical treatment facility (MTF) level.
Each member of NMW’s safety and occupational health team is also a subject matter expert responsible for managing the health programs at region headquarters and for providing oversight, guidance, and resources to ensure the programs at the MTF level are successful.
According to Occupational Medicine Program Manager for Navy Medicine West Kathleen Edwards, like any periodic Department of Navy inspection, the SOHME evaluation is taken very seriously because the safety and occupational health program includes legal obligations from the safety and health program managers.
“It’s like an Inspector General (IG) report,” said Edwards, one of the subject matter experts evaluated by SOHME. The SOHME inspection, like an IG investigation, includes staff interviews, workplace observations, and documentation reviews.
During the SOHME inspection, the BUMED assessment team evaluated NMW’s subject matter experts from four disciplines; safety and occupational health, industrial hygiene, occupational health, and occupational audiology.
The SOHME assessments also evaluated safety and occupational health program effectiveness and efficiency, results of mishap prevention efforts, metrics, compliance with program requirements, and customer command satisfaction.
At the completion of SOHME, each program receives a summary rating of commendable, satisfactory, provisional, or unsatisfactory. Navy Medicine West received the highest rating: commendable.
“This is a notable accomplishment,” said Navy Medicine West Chief of Staff Capt. Tim Weber. “We are glad to have such a team of dedicated and competent professionals supporting this mission at the region and MTF level.”
NMW and their subject matter experts received a commendable for several achievements and significant program improvements such as NMW’s increased use of Enterprise Safety Application Management System (ESAMS), which enhances the tracking of safety compliance and training; improved workplace hazard assessments; and saving work hours at the deck plate.
“The Navy Medicine West team received a commendable but it is truly a reflection of the support and program management that they provide to Navy hospitals and branch clinics,” said Edwards. “Where the work is being done is at medical treatment facilities, and we at Navy Medicine West are helping to support this level.”
Edwards said she has participated in three SOHME inspections in nine years. According to Edwards, what stood out in the recent inspection was for the first time, the region’s environmental health program management was also being evaluated. The environmental health program manager at NMW is responsible for water quality and trends on emerging diseases.
“We feel that this is a great addition to the medical treatment facility, adding the support to our clinic and ultimately the Navy workforce,” said Edwards.
For the last decade since its inception, SOHME inspections have been essential for all BUMED commands because they highlight the command’s responsibilities in addition to enforcing the Navy’s safety and occupational health program.
“The important thing is that we are all here to help the next level of command,” said Ratican. “The same focus is trying to find out how we can do better at our jobs. Besides learning from a report telling you what to fix, we can also give you the resources on how to fix it.”
NMW is Navy Medicine’s health care system in the Western Pacific, providing medical care to more than 675,000 beneficiaries.
For more news on Navy Medicine West, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmw/
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