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Focus on safety as summer draws to a close

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col David Brickley
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Safety Office
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Ten. That's just how many days are left until Labor Day, 2012. And there are only 29 days until the first day of Fall. But there is still plenty of summer-like weather left and plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. This year, the Air Force Safety Center decided to forgo the normal "101 Critical Days of Summer" campaign and simply call it the "Critical Days of Summer" - a recognition that summer-like weather and activities go on past Labor Day, and so does the potential for summer-like mishaps.

The Air Force is having a challenging summer season with mishap rates in many categories close to where they were last year. Since Memorial Day we've lost 13 fellow Airmen to fatal mishaps; all off-duty. If there is a positive statistic in that, only one involved alcohol. Seven others involved motorcycles, with four of them being loss of control or excessive speed. We're on par with where we were last year With four weeks to go in the summer season.

Here at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, I will take a chance and say we are beating the odds, with summer mishaps low and none fatal. This is no doubt due to our commanders' tremendous focus on safety and a great culture we've developed which hopefully provides our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and civilians with tools and support for making smart decisions both on and off duty.

As an example, the 108th Air Refueling Wing conducted a Safety Down Day June 6, providing more than 1,000 total hours of safety-related training across a variety of subject areas to their people. Mr. Ken Holloway, the 621st Contingency Response Wing Safety Manager, has been working hard to merge his Safety program with the 615th Contingency Response Group at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., which was recently realigned under the 621 CRW. FRC-East Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Frank Seguin has focused on the human-machine interface and developing a sound operational risk management program, which highlights the importance of a total organizational commitment to safety.

The Joint Base Safety office brought the Street Smart presentation to the Joint Base in early June, and provided safe driving training to more than 1,600 Joint Base members. Clearly traffic fatalities are the leading type of fatality each and every summer. While all safety is crucial, making smart driving choices will go a long way toward keeping our forces safe both on and off duty. First and foremost, don't drink and drive! People continue to believe they're "ok" if they've only had one or two drinks, or drink beyond the point of making any good decisions while still keeping their car keys within reach. Neither of these actions is smart, nor will do anything to prolong your life. Secondly, don't get into a car with someone who's been drinking and think you will be a "safety observer"... you may just end up as a witness, if not a victim.

The Critical Days of Summer will continue beyond Labor Day. In this region, weather will be nice enough to enjoy outdoor activities into late October, and perhaps beyond. The "official" end of summer is no time to take the focus off safety, or let up one bit in making smart choice and using the Wingman concept to help your friends make smart choices. No people who have been involved in mishaps thought it could happen to them, or went out intending to get into the mishap. It's always the things we don't plan for, the unnecessary chances we take that get us in trouble. Be a smart military member. Be a good wingman/battle buddy/shipmate/friend. Keep the focus on safety!