PENTAGON, Washington DC -- A five-day Quality Work Environment Initiative workshop was held at the Army Materiel Command, in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama Sep. 17-21.
Led by the Director for Safety, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, Mark Atkins, the QWE Initiative workshop included over 80 participants from various commands across the United States and concluded a lengthy assessments effort.
The QWE Initiative is a historic collaborative effort which created synergy among many Army commands. These commands provided their knowledge and expertise to help address the issue of ensuring that quality work environments are maintained for AMC Army employees and contractors.
During the week, participants collaborated to develop site reports for 5 of the 21 AMC Organic Industrial Base sites. The participants were divided into their respective site assessment teams and facilitated discussions that reviewed the assessment data and provided recommendations for improvement.
The participants generated draft site reports and attended Root Cause Analysis and Prevent Failure Recurrence training. Training based on industry best practices was presented to the participants to facilitate actionable recommendations, generate discussions in the breakout sessions for report writing and to equip Army organic assets with new portable tools to improve their daily work.
At the conclusion of the QWE Initiative workshop, participants briefed their leaderships on the progress of the QWE Initiative and explained the way ahead.
The brief was followed by a panel discussion, citing specific narrative examples of the challenges faced by the assessment team and highlighted accomplishments. The panel emphasized the collaborative nature of the effort and noted that the effort spanned multiple commands and functional areas, ensuring that the Army employees and contractors at each of the Organic Industrial Base sites had a quality work environment.
The workshop concluded with a recognition ceremony for their hard work, presided over by: Hon. Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment; Lt. Gen. Patricia McQuistion, deputy commanding general, Army Materiel Command; and Hew Wolfe, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.
Since the QWE Initiative Workshop, ESOH has continued to work on and finalize the site reports for the 21 Organic Industrial Base sites and will present the findings to the AMC Command. The site reports include guidance for improving and mitigating safety concerns thereby improving the quality work environment for AMC Organic Industrial Base employees and contractors.
Related Links:
Army Environmental Policy Institute
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy and Environment)
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