Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Achieves Safety Milestone - 1,000,000 Safe Work Hours wi

By Raini BrunsonJuly 17, 2009

Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Achieves Safety Milestone -

1,000,000 Safe Work Hours without a Recordable Injury

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) officials announced that the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF) achieved a safety milestone at 12:01 a.m. on July 15, 2009 when it went surpassed 1 million safe work hours without a recordable injury.

"Safety, while destroying the chemical weapons, is our main priority. I am pleased that the work force at the PBCDF demonstrates CMA's commitment to safety in their day-to-day destruction operations as shown by their achieving this nearly-unparalleled safety milestone," stated CMA Director Conrad F. Whyne.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment and demonstrates the outstanding caliber of employees working on the project," said Mark Greer, PBCDF site project manager.

"Our employees have clearly demonstrated that safety is the most important part of what we do every day," said David Reber, Washington Defense Group project general manager at PBCDF. "This type of accomplishment only happens with the very best of teams as they constantly ensure their focus is on keeping safety first in everything they do. The PBCDF employees clearly are among the very best."

The safety milestone set at PBCDF is the first time any chemical demilitarization site has ever accomplished 1 million hours without a recordable injury.

On June 17, PBCDF also achieved another safety milestone when it reached 2 million hours without an injury requiring days away from work.

PBCDF employs more than 700 workers and subcontractors who continuously focus on safety for themselves and their co-workers.

The Washington Defense Group of URS Corporation is the systems contractor that operates PBCDF for the U.S. Army. The facility uses state-of-the-art incineration technology to safely destroy the approximately 3,850 tons of chemical agents stockpiled at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

CMA has completed destruction of the chemical weapons at Newport, Ind.; Aberdeen, Md.; and Johnston Island. Final chemical agent destruction operations are under way at CMA's four remaining destruction sites: Anniston, Ala., Pine Bluff, Ark., Umatilla, Ore., and Tooele, Utah. CMA's destruction sites should complete operations in time to meet the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention treaty deadline. CMA continues to safely store chemical agent munitions near Richmond, Ky., and at Pueblo, Colo. For more information about CMA, visit http://www.cma.army.mil.