MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- If a unit flies 10,047 hours, carrying more than 32,000 people and 41 million tons of cargo, much of it in and out of a war zone, with zero reportable mishaps, it gets more than a great safety record.
The 446th Airlift Wing Safety Office has earned the designation Air Force Reserve Command Safety Office of the Year for 2006. The Reservists specializing in safety are not one dimensional. Not only was their flight safety program award-worthy, but their weapons safety program was deemed a benchmark program for use throughout the command and their ground safety program received high praise from AFRC safety officials.
Performance, dedication, motivation and team work blended together as the Airmen in the safety office executed their duties and responsibilities.
There are six Reservists assigned to the safety office, two for flight safety and four for ground safety. That's three people per unit training assembly weekend.
"Having only three people per team can be very hectic and pressing at times," said Senior Master Sgt. David Ponce, ground safety manager. "Every UTA we have a newcomer's briefing, a supervisor safety training class, and several squadron safety assessments and inspections taking place. Not to mention our own ancillary training that needs to be done."
To manage their time, these safety specialists work as a team, arranging work schedules months in advance to ensure coverage for each UTA.
"We share in responsibilities due to the fact that if one member is pulled away for an appointment, we must be able to work his or her taskings into our schedule - making for a hectic weekend."
All this effort sustains the wing's ground safety record of zero reportable Class A or B mishaps in the past 41 years. Air Force classifies mishaps based on seriousness in relation to financial costs and human costs.
In addition to its outstanding ground safety record, the safety office's weapon safety program is recognized throughout AFRC as a benchmark program. Using a checklist the safety Reservists designed, the wing had no ammunition incidents or weapons incidents.
The flight safety section pioneered a fatigue assessment worksheet in response to aircrews' concerns about Operation Iraqi Freedom stage operations and scheduling. Stage operations are when aircrews deploy to Ramstein for two weeks at a time, flying mission into and out of Iraq from there. Many of these missions were as long as 26 hours.
The fatigue assessment worksheet allowed safety experts to tackle factors beyond the long crew days that were contributing to crew fatigue. The worksheet served as a starting point for Air Mobility Command's new Operational Risk Management instruction.