Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, along with The Old Guard, kicked off 101 Critical Days of Summer with its annual Army Safety Day June 1 on Summerall Field. National Safety Month, which began in June, was established in 1996 to increase awareness of safety and health risks. Each week of the month focuses on a specific area. As the summer season approaches, there is an increased volume of incidents that occur involving safety-related issues and active duty servicemembers.
Some of the participants at this year's event included Dominion Virginia Power, Arlington County Department of Human Services, the American Red Cross and the organization Quit Tobacco. Dominion showcased real-life scenarios involving electrical accidents along with proper generator and transformer usage.
"Once I came to the event and learned new information on electrical accidents, I felt like overall the information gives you a new perspective on safety," said Spc. Jerome Jackson of The Old Guard's 289th Military Police Company.
Prior to safety day, Soldiers are required by their chain of command to complete annual training classes which consist of motorcycle, driving and seat belt safety.
The JBM-HH Fire Department also taught classes and provided a demonstration on personal protective equipment.
"It is vital to anyone who rides a motorcycle in the National Capital Region to pay attention to the car [drivers] around them when riding a motorcycle. Most of the time, the cars don't see them," said Cory Drake of the fire department.
With daily training that occurs on JBM-HH, constantly updating safety information along with getting out new rules and regulations is a routine affair.
"People can become complacent in their daily activities. At the safety office, we try to deliver updated general and training information by sending out monthly newsletters and updating classes that are given by the different units," said Leroy Brown, chief of safety on JBM-HH.
Kerry Kolhof has been the regimental safety manager for the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) since 2009. Part of his daily job is to monitor the blotter accident records. These numbers give the safety office an idea of how high the safety violations are among activduty servicemembers.
"The blotter report changes from season to season, but it is higher in the summer months due to Soldiers returning home on leave and spending more time outdoors," said Kolhof.
Since 2009, Kolhof has tried to increase the number of Soldiers attending safety day by adding more demonstrations that will grab their attention. At this year's event more than 1,000 active-duty servicemembers attended. "If you can get a Soldier to stop and think, it can save a life. Hopefully that is what safety day does," said Kolhof.
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