ANAD earns AMC safety award for FY17

By CourtesyJanuary 25, 2018

ANAD earns AMC safety award for FY17
Tony Caselini counter bores holes for a hydraulic servo in Anniston Army Depot's Component Machining Branch. New guards have been added to equipment throughout the machining shops on the installation and additional guards will be put in place during ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. - The depot was recently awarded the U.S. Army Materiel Command Industrial Operations Safety Award for fiscal year 2017.

"This achievement was enabled by innovative approaches to tackling systemic challenges for Risk Management across the industrial operations and have resulted in several best practices for the TACOM Safety Community, specifically workforce engagement as a key component of a Safety Management System," said Adam Crafard, director of Safety for the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. "Anniston's efforts and growing safety culture have supported some of the most significant reductions for injury rates across TACOM in recent history and that trend has continued through the first quarter of FY18."

Drew Ramsey, chief of the depot's Safety Office said the award is a reflection of the increased safety awareness employees throughout the depot have shown.

"This award reflects a culture change we are seeing throughout Anniston Army Depot," said Ramsey. "Employees have begun to truly take ownership of the safety program and consistently look for ways to improve the operations in their areas with a focus on engineering safety into every process and procedure. I'm proud of all our workforce has accomplished."

TARGET ZERO

The Target Zero program and its components have been responsible for changing the depot's safety culture. It is one of the elements which led to this award.

Target Zero, first launched in fiscal year 2013, is principally comprised of an inspection team with members from Safety, Industrial Hygiene, the Directorate of Risk Management, the Directorate of Emergency Services, the Directorate of Production Engineering and the Directorate of Public Works.

The focus is a proactive, rather than reactive, safety approach.

Some of the elements of the Target Zero program are:

• Safety Bulletins and Safety Grams

ANAD Safety Office publishes Safety Bulletins and Safety Grams and distributes them via all-user e-mails. These publications are also distributed directly to affected populations as risks and hazards are identified.

• ANAD Safety Go-To-Resource Book

The GTR consolidates safety-related documents in one easily accessible binder.

The 15 tabs include sections such as job hazard analyses, six-minute huddle sheets, permits, inventories, lockout/tagout procedures, inspection checklists and ANAD Regulation 385-1, Safety & Occupational Health.

• Commander's Accident Review Board

Now a monthly occurrence, the Accident Review Board was first launched in April 2014.

This review board brings together supervisors whose respective cost centers have had recordable injuries.

The depot commander addresses each incident and the Safety Office tracks non-conformances to completion.

REPORTING

The Safety Intelex Automated Reporting System, better known as Intelex, came to ANAD in FY17.

Over the course of the year, more than 100 supervisors were trained on Intelex.

Intelex allows ANAD to break down data to expose indicators and additional opportunities beyond the injury rates to include injury demographics, which can assist in identifying the most at-risk populations.

With Intelex, the Safety Office not only captures safety hazards and root causes, but also examines these elements against multiple, previously unseen, variables.

This deeper program analysis allows ANAD to mitigate anecdotal biases and provide results through more effective controls that target the appropriate risks.

OSHA CHALLENGE

The Occupational Safety and Health Association's Challenge has three stages, which guide participants from the initial planning and development process through the implementation of an effective safety and health management program.

ANAD is currently working through Stage I, Assess, Learn and Develop, and expects to complete the OSHA Challenge in early FY19.

SAFETY MONITOR PROGRAM

In FY17, ANAD's Safety Office re-energized its efforts with the Safety Monitor Program.

More than 140 safety monitors are in place throughout every depot organization.

Additionally, the Directorate of Production has five full-time safety monitors to support each production value stream. These Value Stream Safety Monitors are embedded in the Industrial Safety Office and are involved directly with supervisors to support the OSHA Challenge initiative.

LOCKOUT/TAGOUT

In FY17, ANAD maintained an inventory of 5,289 lockout/tagout procedures.

This is a 25 percent increase in procedures as compared to FY16, and a 99 percent increase as compared to FY15.

The increase is credited to robust program oversight and strong management commitment to obtaining 100 percent compliance.

Additionally, 160 authorized employees (those qualified to perform LOTO) were trained in FY17.

FALL PROTECTION

Throughout the ANAD industrial area there are 100 fall protection system upgrades in 15 buildings.

In FY17, ANAD's Safety Office trained 154 employees in fall protection requirements.

Additionally, ANAD inventoried fixed ladders and determined more than 180 require upgrades under the new OSHA 1910.23 standard.

Work is currently underway to ensure that 100 percent of fixed ladders meet the standard prior to FY19.

MACHINE GUARD PROGRAM

A team has been established with the Safety Office and Directorate of Production Engineering for the depot's machine guard program.

In FY17, the team evaluated 36 industrial buildings and more than 800 industrial machines to determine which guard(s) were needed to satisfy OSHA requirements.

Work is currently underway to ensure all guards are purchased or fabricated and installed before FY19.

GOALS

The Safety Office's goals for FY18 are to have a Total Case Rate of 3.23 and a Lost Time Case Rate of 0.52. The plan is to have all machine guards acquired or fabricated and full installation complete for the project.

Completion of Stage I of the OSHA Challenge will also occur during FY18.

This article appeared on page 5 of the Jan. 25, 2018, issue of TRACKS.