Organizations make Belvoir, MDW safer places

By Justin Creech, Belvoir EagleFebruary 2, 2012

Organizations make Belvoir, MDW safer places
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Senior safety professionals from partner organization on Fort Belvoir and in the Military District of Washington shared ideas on how to make the installation a safer place to live and work, during a meet and greet Jan. 26, at the Fort Belvoir Officers' Club.

The Fort Belvoir Safety Office hosted the first meeting with more than 15 organizations to improve its communication and working relationships in order to quickly and efficiently resolve safety issues in the future.

"To have a good safety program, I think the bottom line is building good relationships with people," said Henry Brown, MDW Command Safety, Fort Lesley J. McNair. "I think the benefit of today is for us to share ideas and listen to others' ideas. If you need assistance with something, I'm sure somebody in this room has figured it out already."

Members of the Belvoir safety office gave presentations on the purpose of the meeting and stressed how timely reporting can help the safety office solve problems faster.

The best development that came out of the meeting was building relationships so they can all help one another in the future, said organization representatives.

"Safety is everyone's job," said Dorothy Lymuel, American Water Environmental Health & Safety Manager. "If everyone is on the same sheet of music it makes the song hum. I've met quite a few of the safety people here, but there are quite a few I've never seen before. This guy may have experiences he can share with me when I have an issue so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. It saves time, money and lives."

The benefit of good working relationships amongst the safety professionals is important to people outside of those groups as well.

Fort Belvoir Garrison Commander Col. John Strycula shared his expectations of the safety professionals at Fort Belvoir. He stressed that collaboration is essential to managing the overall safety posture for all partners on Fort Belvoir. Working together and empowering additional duty safety representatives in each unit allows everyone to gain valuable resources.

Headquarters Department of the Army, Army Headquarters Services has been on Fort Belvoir for a little over a year. Having the opportunity to meet groups that have been in similar situations will be a huge benefit to HQDA, according to Donald Green, HQDA, Army Headquarters Services chief safety officer.

"The lessons they have learned will help us out enormously," said Green. "A lot of these organizations and groups are already off the ground and running. We get lessons learned and better business practices."

Green is in charge of 12 buildings on post and shares industrial hygiene and other inspection information with the Fort Belvoir Safety Office.

The Belvoir safety office and safety organization employees expressed an interest in implementing these meetings as recurring events in order to continue to grow the safety operation on post and in the MDW.

"This is just the beginning of something that can be very beneficial," said Susan Roeder, Fort Belvoir Safety director. "We have a lot of tenant units at Belvoir, plus we have units in the surrounding areas that if we work together we can have a better safety program."