Wing commander shares vision, goals for safety day

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  To take advantage of a non-flying day, Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, 56th Fighter Wing commander, will host a safety and training day for Luke members Monday. 

Following a five minute video presentation from General Neubauer sharing his expectations, vision and goals for safety day and Luke Thunderbolts, group commanders will talk about expectations of their respective Airmen. 

The training day will be divided into two sections, according to Ben Bruce, 56th Fighter Wing Ground Safety specialist. 

"Each duty section has training plans for the day," he said. "Units or sections should take a look at the hazards of their jobs and discuss methods to protect members from injury, such as using personal protective equipment, learning to lift safely, using an emergency eye wash and shower, performing fire drills, and anything else along the lines of job safety training." 

A 20-minute slide presentation on operational risk management allows each section to review the four principles of ORM and the six steps on how to apply them on and off duty with an eye on personal responsibility and accountability for personal actions, he said.
Each training session should be documented in an Air Force Form 55, Employee Safety and Health Record. 

While the day is dedicated to training, only the first portion is for safety training.
"Sections may perform specific training for their units," Mr. Bruce said. "For example, maintainers have many areas they can cover such as hazardous communication, confined spaces, fall protection and all those things you don't get in the job safety training." 

Those under the age of 26 will also be required to watch slides on subjects like driving under the influence, intersection collisions, driving distractions and the importance of wearing seatbelts. 

Thirty-four percent of Air Force members are under the age of 26. Recent Air Force statistics find that the younger group makes up a large percentage of the serious and fatal accidents in the Air Force, according to Mr. Bruce. 

"Anyone under the age of 26 will be required to do a yearly training on driving safety, not just when they permanent-change-of-station to a new base," he said. "We want to capture the under-26 group because they tend to take the highest risks."