Army releases spring/summer safety campaign

By Julie Shelley, U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, Fort Rucker, AlabamaMarch 26, 2015

The Army's annual spring/summer safety campaign was recently released online by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center.

This iteration of the yearly promotion, which includes feature articles, posters and public service announcements for use by safety professionals and unit leaders, is the first dual-season campaign produced by the USACRC in several years. Starting in 2012, the center released a separate campaign at the beginning of each season, but feedback from the field indicated the previous approach was a better fit for addressing issues at all Army installations.

"Our safety professionals didn't feel the single campaigns gave them time to effectively build their seasonal programs," said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Farnsworth, director of Army Safety and commanding general, USACRC. "There's a lot of variability in when the seasons come and go in our various locations, and what's timely for some might be too late for others. I feel the combined campaign will better meet everyone's needs."

This year's topics include privately owned weapons safety, bicycling safety, PMV-2 and PMV-4 safety, heat illness and injury, diving and water safety, and hurricane awareness, among others. The seasonal installments are part of the overarching "Ready … or Not" safety campaign launched by the USACRC in 2014.

"The point of Ready … or Not is to get Soldiers thinking about their personal risk," said Command Sgt. Maj. Leeford Cain, USACRC. "Regardless of whether they've made a plan or thought things through, risk is going to be there. That's especially true with all the off-duty activities Soldiers will pursue during spring and summer."

While planning each seasonal campaign, USACRC experts in ground, driving and aviation safety, as well as civilian injury prevention, parse historical data to generate topics for the multimedia products eventually released. Cain said this process allows the center to pinpoint areas leaders should focus on during their safety planning.

"What you see with each campaign is a reflection of the previous year's, or previous five years', top accident categories," he said. "PMVs are always an issue, but we've seen increases in accidental drownings during the past few years, and there is always the chance something unforeseen will pop up after the campaign is launched. We'll simply add to the campaign when those events occur."

The complete campaign is available now at https://safety.army.mil. Safety professionals and unit leaders may order a campaign DVD by following the link posted on the site, or download each product individually to their personal computer. All audiovisual products are posted in high resolution and easily duplicable at local installations.