The U.S. Army Garrison - Detroit Arsenal conducted a safety stand down day Nov. 17 to increase employee's awareness of the importance of safety both on the job and at home.
"The goal of our safety stand down day was to increase safety awareness in order to reduce the accidents or incidents that cause injury, illness, and damage to property both in the work place and at home," said Denise Blakely, garrison safety officer. "It was conducted in conjunction with the Installation Management Command campaign that required all garrisons to conduct safety stand downs before Thanksgiving."
Activities for the day began with an all-garrison town hall during which safety officers and garrison leadership briefed attendees about recent accident trends at the garrison and throughout IMCOM. They also talked about the importance of having a safety mindset and using an internal risk assessment whenever planning activities.
The main objectives for the day were to:
Aca,!Ac Assess work area for hazards and abate identified hazards
Aca,!Ac Assess jobs, tasks, and duties for hazards
Aca,!Ac Evaluate current standard operating procedures to identify any hazardous processes that can be changed
Aca,!Ac Inspect equipment for hazards
Aca,!Ac Inspect personal protective equipment
Aca,!Ac Conduct safety awareness training
Safety officials also designated specific times for activities to make it easier for people to comply.
"It is easier for people to stay on track and to stay engaged if you break the day's events into specific activities," said Blakely. "We didn't want people to go back to the places of work and get wrapped up in work. We wanted to give them a specific schedule in order to keep them in a safety mindset throughout the day."
Inspecting work areas and safety equipment were key activities to the day's events and the installation firefighters took the message to heart when they returned to the station following the town hall.
"Sometimes our safety checks become routine," said Mike Ball, fire captain at the Detroit Arsenal. "Once we left the town hall, I had my guys get their equipment out and do a thorough check of all their gear. Fortunately we didn't find any discrepancies but it's always good to take a second look when it comes to safety."
Alan Parks, deputy garrison manager, spent the majority of the day walking through work areas and talking to people about the importance of safety and listening to their safety concerns.
"Today was very successful in that it brought safety to the forefront of every garrison members mind for an entire day," said Parks. "The true measure of today's success will be if people keep safety in the forefront throughout the holiday season and continue to apply the safety principles they learned today at work, at home and in everything they do."
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