FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Thanks to a renewed command emphasis and commitment to safety and occupational health at every level, the U.S. Army Materiel Command has won two significant Army safety awards designed to recognize, promote and motivate success in accident prevention.
Brig. Gen. William H. Forrester, director of Army safety and commanding general of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center presented the Army Headquarters Safety Award for 2007 for Superior Contributions to Army Combat Readiness to Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin, AMC's commanding general, in a ceremony at AMC headquarters July 29.
"You have distinguished yourself in safety excellence and have brought intrinsic value for safety to the rest of the Army. Each person at AMC knows they are a part of an organization bigger than themselves - you have infused the culture as a band of brothers," said Forrester.
"AMC continued to improve its safety and occupational health program by using Safety Rapid Review Teams to provide direct, multidisciplinary assistance to commanders in the field; by sharing best practices across the command; and by using weekly production updates with AMC sites as safety council meetings between the commanding general and the commanders of those facilities," said John Manfre, AMC's director of safety, who also helped accept the award on behalf of AMC.
"AMC also reduced lost work days by 11 percent from fiscal year 2006 to 2007 and reduced its Total Case Incident Rates/Days Away-Restricted-Transfers rates in spite of increased mission and higher OPTEMPO at our facilities," he said.
"This award is for the entire AMC enterprise - from the worker at the ammo plant, the arsenal, the field support brigade - there is a total focus on safety and I'm extremely proud of everyone in AMC for winning this significant award," said Griffin.
Griffin then presented the Individual Award of Excellence in Safety to Douglas Day, a 36-year employee of AMC's Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Va. The individual award is given to the civilian, contractor, officer and non-commissioned officer who have each made the most significant contributions to their organization's accident prevention effort.
"What you do at Radford is a critical asset for the warfighter and you do it safely. You set the example for the rest of AMC and are the epitome of the leadership and workforce here at AMC," said Griffin.
Under Day's direct involvement, the plant reached one million hours of work without a recordable injury; implemented a foreign object damage control program that reduced those incidents by 50 percent from fiscal year 2006 to 2007; and conducted plant-wide safety stand-down days to increase safety awareness, said Manfre.
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