CRANE, Ind. -Crane Army Ammunition Activity employees passed a safety milestone of more than three million hours worked without a lost workday incident in January and continue to go strong.
The milestone, marked from June 11, 2009, until Jan. 25, 2011, means any injuries encountered by CAAA employees on the job were minor enough that no employee missed a full day of work after their injury. According to the CAAA Commander Col. Linwood Clark, the milestone reflects directly on the culture of safety Crane employees have developed in their workspaces.
In a message to the employees, Clark stated, "This is a major milestone for any organization but even more impressive for an organization that is as diverse in its operations and range (indoor and outdoor activities). During our safety stand down in 2009 you were given a challenge to lookout not only for yourselves, but also your co-workers and have zero accidents. You all are doing a great job of meeting that challenge."
The employees of CAAA, which receives, stores, ships, produces, renovates and demilitarizes conventional ammunition, missiles and related components, know and understand the dangers involved in their job. Because of those dangers, the entire workforce has cultivated its culture of safety in order to avoid accidents and injuries. Evidence of this culture is seen in the command earning a Star Status designation in the Voluntary Protection Program last year. VPP promotes effective worksite-based safety and health.
CAAA Supervisory Safety Engineer Walt Shearin believes the safety success can be traced in each employee\'s dedication to not only their job, but each other. He said, "Safety is an individual responsibility and it takes everyone working together to achieve this. It is especially significant considering the amount of overtime work we have done to meet the demands of the Warfighter."
Clark echoed that sentiment of the difficulty in reaching the goal when he stated, "We have not eliminated all incidents but we have reduced the numbers of incidents and the severity of the ones we have had. Equally impressive is the fact that this milestone has been achieved under some of the worst weather conditions we have experienced in years with temperature extremes and more than normal snow/ice conditions."
While it is unknown how long CAAA will continue past this safety milestone, it is clear that it is part of a total effort to ensure the activity can always supply the Warfighter with its best.
CAAA was established in Oct. 1977 and is a tenant of the Navy Region Midwest, Naval Support Activity Crane. The Army activity maintains ordnance professionals and infrastructure to receive, store, ship, produce, renovate and demilitarize conventional ammunition, missiles and related components.
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