ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - Keeping the Army's Soldiers, civilians, and contractors safe served as an unofficial theme for the Army Materiel Command/Joint Munitions Command Safety Training Workshop held here Aug. 25-27.
Attendees networked, brainstormed, and participated in vigorous discussions during the three-day event.
On Aug. 27, Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, AMC commanding general, highlighted the week's events when speaking to participants via video teleconference.
"Thank you all for participating in the conference. Safety is my and our number one priority," she said. "I am first of all proud of the progress that we as a command have made in safety. Safety is an attitude. "
"I'm also proud that Tobyhanna (Army Depot) and Crane (Army Ammunition Activity) have achieved (Volunteer Protection Program) status. That is a good list to be on. I know it involves a lot of hard work," she said.
She also spoke on JMC earning the Secretary of the Army/Chief of Staff of the Army Fiscal Year 2008 Army Safety Award in the category of Army Industrial Safety, as well as the CECOM Life Cycle Management Command for winning a safety award.
Winning awards should never make anyone relax on safety, according to Dunwoody.
"We have to remain vigilant when it comes to safety especially with this higher OPTEMPO. We are at a higher OPTEMPO than during Vietnam. The Army is stretched right now. I'm concerned when I see Soldiers committing suicide. We all must be safety disciples," she said. "No one knows you better than yourself, and no one knows your buddies better than you. Please take care of yourself and your buddies."
Prior to the Dunwoody's VTC, Brig. Gen. William Wolf, commanding general of the Combat Readiness/Safety Center and Director of Army Safety, spoke on the Army's vision for making its people safer.
"You are all champions of Army safety," he said. "Ninety nine percent of these accidents (within the Army) are very, very preventable. We are making progress. We are making headway. We are taking what good ideas you have and what good ideas the Soldier has and proliferating them across the Army."
He said on duty fatalities are decreasing while off-duty fatalities are increasing.
"We're combating (the number of fatalities) by continuing to emphasize leadership. Our leaders are beginning to engage their Soldiers on the different hazards," he said.
Wolf also told the audience that the Army is looking to improve civilian injury reduction rates, improve accident reporting, and create a safety website that is more interactive.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Addison "Tad" Davis spoke to the attendees on Aug. 25.
"I want all of you to know I'm thankful for the great things you do every day for the Army," he said. "Safety is something we must think about minute by minute."
Davis said with budget changes coming, everyone across the Army's landscape must be more prudent in their spending.
"We will be working very hard back in Washington to meet your needs. We also want you to think about some of things you can do to help stretch the funding," he said.
Another big topic in Washington is the safe fielding of new technology.
"With this new technology - communication gears, new vehicles, we have new testing research to make sure items function properly and that not only it works, but works safely, and that it works according to the way it was designed to," he said.
Davis told the audience that reinventing the Army's safety program included: improving Army civilian training, providing upward mobility, improving information technology, training senior safety professionals, recruiting, and seeing more Army installations achieve VPP status.
"At the end of the day, the bottom line is the need for vigilance. We have to battle complacency day in and day out when it comes to safety," Davis concluded.
Other topics covered throughout the week included professional development in the safety career field; safety and the Materiel Enterprise, ergonomics, Department of the Army civilian accident reporting and updates to the Army Explosives Safety Program.
Bruce Elliot, director of JMC's safety directorate, spoke highly of the safety conference.
"The joint AMC/JMC Safety Training Workshop was a resounding success," he said. "More than 115 safety professionals from AMC, AMCOM (Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command), CECOM (LCMC), CMA (Chemical Materials Agency), JMC/ASC (Army Sustainment Command), RDECOM (Research, Development and Engineering Command), SDDC (Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command) and TACOM (LCMC) benefited from the wide range of topics that 32 presenters shared. Sixteen breakout sessions offered a choice of subjects to meet everyone's interests.
"All presenters provided timely guidance for optimum safety management. AMC has not held a safety workshop in 12 years, but with the outstanding response of this, they look forward to the next one."
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