Protecting our ultimate resource

  • Published
  • By Col. Steven Arquiette
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing commander
TRAVIS AFB, Calif. --  Each and every one of you is extremely important to your personal friends and family, your Air Force friends and family, as well as Team Travis' mission. It's important that we constantly look for things that jeopardize our personal and professional well being, hence our efforts on safety. 

We kicked off our 101 Critical Days of Summer Safety campaign a few weeks ago and thankfully everyone enjoyed a safe holiday weekend. As an Air Force, we emphasize safety more during this time of year since historically we suffer our greatest number of fatalities as Airmen and their families recreate in a variety of ways outdoors. Over the past two years, Team Travis has been exploring ways to further protect our people year-round following the tragic loss of a military member's life as well as permanent injuries to one of our civilians. 

In the effort to do more, Travis became Air Mobility Command's test base for a new Air Force effort called the Voluntary Protection Program or VPP, as it is commonly referred. The intent of this OSHA-based effort is to instill a mindset and culture of safety to reduce risk and make everything we do safer. 

Just over one year ago, myself, the 349th AMW and 615th Contingency Response Wing commanders, and John Santry, our Union president, collectively agreed to partner in the journey to make Travis a safer place to work and live. In the year since then, we have worked with units throughout Travis, teaching Airmen how to proactively work to enhance safety. 

VPP is unique in several ways. The most significant is how it is employed in the workplace. Traditional safety programs are compliance driven. Inspectors check work processes and facilities and note discrepancies on their checklists. Quite often, the hazards or problems are not addressed in a timely manner. VPP is different, much different. 

For one thing, it is culture driven. Safety becomes less of a monthly or quarterly checklist item and more of a daily approach to how one works and lives. In the best of worlds, it would be transparent. To achieve that goal requires a shift in how we think and act. Creating an environment that promotes continual risk mitigation, always seeking ways how we can make our jobs and homes safer, is an easy way to view this goal. This actually fits well with our AFSO21 goals of creating a culture of continual process improvement. 

We're well on our way in achieving lower accident numbers, and we're fortunate to be sponsored by a local business that's been using VPP successfully for eight years now. Just last week, a team from all three Travis wings met with managers and workers at the Valero Refinery in Benicia. Those who work at the refinery are active participants and believers in VPP. If any group has made it a part of their culture, they surely have. So much so, they are a Star Site, which is the highest rating a company can achieve in VPP. 

To earn that status, they had to establish a safety culture, and go above and beyond the norm to have a world class safety and health program. In doing so, those who work at the refinery reduced injuries and accidents by 60 percent and achieved a150 percent return on investment! Each employee wears a laminated badge with a picture of their loved ones which states "This is Why I Do Things Safely," a constant reminder that any unsafe actions could have painful consequences for our loved ones who depend on us daily. As our official VPP mentor for Travis, we're very grateful for their help. 

Safety is everyone's responsibility and it requires personal accountability. Our wingman culture certainly helps us. By looking out for our fellow wingmen, we are actually working within the mindset and culture that VPP demands of an organization in order to have a measurable impact. 

You'll be learning more about VPP as we continue our journey to reduce preventable accidents. So please help those around you understand that each and every one of us can and will make a difference. It all begins with you. However you approach it, VPP is about protecting the ultimate resource--you. 

BE PROUD! BE SAFE!