56th CES wins prestigious award

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • Thunderbolt staff writer
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The 56th Civil Engineer Squadron Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Management System cross functional team won the Air, Education and Training Command Civil Engineer Gen. Thomas White Environmental Quality Award for team excellence. It was second time Luke has won this award, with the first time being in 1998.

The award was presented to Lt. Col. Chad BonDurant, 56th CES commander, Oct. 26 at an awards dinner and again at the Oct. 28 commander's call, according to Charles Rothrock, 56th CES Environmental chief.

Rothrock emphasized that this award was a team effort.

"Although the award is sanctioned by CES, it is a team award recognizing the base environmental, safety and occupational health management system cross functional team," he said. "The CFT consists of 16 people who are group environmental coordinators, environmental program managers and ground safety and bio environmental representatives."

Awards of this magnitude are won by innovation and a commitment to excellence and Rothrock highlighted some of those achievements.

"We have a new Environmental Protection Agency requirement that all flightline waste fuel/oil bowsers sit in secondary containment in case of a leak," he said. "The cross functional team identified an off-the-shelf containment system, scraping one after a field test showed it was not durable enough. The team then identified central locations and procured environmental funds for the purchase and installation. It was a great example of integrated problem solving, which is why the CFT is here."

What's more, Rothrock said that air permit compliance is a significant aspect of Luke's operations.

"Through a vigilant effort of the CFT and base personnel, we were able to reduce reportable self-inspection violations by 66 percent," he said.

Team work and good communications are a must to have an effective effort.

The CFT is the core group of the larger Pollution Prevention Council, whose more than 50 members meet monthly to share environmental, safety and occupational health information. The award cited the establishing of good relationships with other agencies and the local community, Rothrock said.

"The council is the only one in the command and, along with the CFT and the environmental, safety and occupational health council comprise our ESOS management system structure," he continued.

The namesake of this award, Gen. Thomas White, was the fourth chief of staff of the Air Force from 1957 to 1961. He charted the course for Air Force environmental programs.