FORT JACKSON, S.C. (July 17, 2014) -- Representatives from various Department of Defense installations in South Carolina participated in a safety meeting at the NCO Club Friday.
The discussions centered on DoD partnerships and best safety practices.
"This was the first of its kind. We are going to schedule more (meetings) in various locations," said Jerry Waibel, Fort Jackson safety director. "We are going to try to do this on a quarterly basis, so that we can improve the safety posture for DoD interests in South Carolina."
The meeting included DoD safety professionals and representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, known as OSHA.
"OSHA is the compliance arm of safety and occupational health programs on any installation," Waibel said. "If we can better understand how (OSHA is) going to look at us for compliance, then we can better prepare ourselves."
Waibel said that OSHA's presence and partnership training efforts at the meeting allowed the organization to highlight some of its functions and roles on government installations.
He said one of the benefits of partnering with OSHA is that the organization can come on post and conduct courtesy looks.
"They can come in and help us improve our programs from a compliance stand-point," he said. "The Army safety program has a compliance function, but we are mainly providing advice to commanders."
Waibel said the meeting proved useful for all organizations that were represented.
"We are all going to benefit from the meeting between Fort Jackson, OSHA and other DoD installations. This will help each installation," he said. "We are going to save the government money by sharing resources."
The meeting also provided an opportunity for the representatives to discuss topics such as "Working Together to Achieve a Safety and Health Culture," "Health Program Performance," and "Best Practices for Optimizing DoD Contractor Safety and Occupational Health Program Performance."
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