Sometimes, standing down is a balancing act between mission and wellness

By John B. SnyderDecember 2, 2014

Sometimes, standing down is a balancing act between mission and wellness
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Sometimes, standing down is a balancing act between mission and wellness
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Sometimes, standing down is a balancing act between mission and wellness
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Sometimes, standing down is a balancing act between mission and wellness
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WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (Dec. 2, 2014) -- The arsenal gave its machines a rare rest recently, albeit for four hours, to accomplish some much needed maintenance. But what a strange sight it was during this maintenance stand down because in place of technical manuals and tool kits … needles, blood pressure measuring devices, fire extinguishers, and a sign up for smoking cessation classes were the tools of the day.

After all, this maintenance stand down had nothing to do with machines ̶ it was about people.

"We wanted to expand the traditional winter safety awareness day to go beyond focusing on injury prevention said Matthew Church, the arsenal's safety manager. "And so, we injected a wellness aspect by introducing such topics as blood sugar levels, distracted driving, and for the first time, smoking cessation classes to improve the wellness of the workforce beyond the fence line."

Col. Lee H. Schiller Jr., the arsenal commander, said that as the arsenal reduced its workforce over the last few years, improving the health of each worker is ever more important to the arsenal's ability to achieve its mission.

"Our workforce size is about as low as it can go without degrading our ability to support our troops with the right weapon, at the right time," Schiller said. "Expanding the scope of our traditional safety day by offering a total wellness program should reduce the number of days away from work that arsenal employees take to recover from an illness or injury."

Beyond the impact on the mission, Schiller said looking out for the welfare of the workforce is the right thing to do, as the training should improve the quality of life of each worker whether they are on or off duty.

The training ranged from understanding blood-sugar levels to drunk driving prevention to snow blower safety. In all, 11 safety-related areas were trained during the four-hour training period.

One area that had a significant amount of interest was smoking cessation.

"Just in the first two hours of the shutdown, we had more than 25 people sign up for a smoking cessation class," said Melissa Ryder, the program manager for the arsenal's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation activity. "This free course will not only save each arsenal employee a $45 course fee, it should also improve the quality of life and life expectancy of all who complete the course."

Arsenal employee John Holzhauer was one of those who signed up for smoking cessation.

"I have been a smoker for more than 40 years even though I had a heart attack 14 years ago," Holzhauer said. "As I am getting older, I now think about my health more often. What a great program because it is free and I can complete the class here during the lunch break."

The fact that many in the workforce were excited, as well as motivated to take action by the day's lessons, were all indications that this winter safety shutdown was a success.

In fact, the smoking cessation class signup was such a success that the arsenal will now offering a second class.

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Watervliet Arsenal:

-The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, continuously operating arsenal in the United States, having begun operations during the War of 1812. It celebrated its 200th anniversary in July 2013.

-Today's arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $90 million.

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