Representatives with the Office of the Director of Army Safety and the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center visited White Sands Missile Range May 15 ahead of an upcoming Safety and Occupational Health Special Interest Surveys scheduled for May 16-18.

Army Safety representatives visit WSMR in preparation for Special Interest Surveys

During their visit Col. Geoffrey D. Greene, Deputy Director of Army Safety, who is leading the team, and Col. Steven M. Pierce, Deputy Commanding Officer U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center toured some of the facilities that will be surveyed at WSMR.

Greene said his group came a day early because they wanted to understand what WSMR does and what it can do.

“We wanted to get an overview of WSMR and what it does for the Army and the functions that it performs for the Army.”

WSMR is one of six units identified as a location for the FY23 Safety and Occupational Health Special Interest Surveys (SIS). The team is comprised of five individuals.

The Office of the Director of Army Safety conducts periodic surveys of units and organizations to assess implementation and effectiveness of the Army’s Safety and Occupational Health Management Program in the areas of ammunition and explosives, chemical agents, infectious agents and toxins, radioactive materials and radiation generating devices, and workplace safety and occupational health and assist in improving and maintaining Army readiness.

The special interest survey program consists of a small team of subject matter experts who review the aforementioned areas to assess risk management and regulatory compliance with key safety and occupational health requirements. The team will provide an out brief and survey report on their analysis with targeted recommendations for program improvements, and additional support as requested.

The SIS will assess the implementation and effectiveness of the Army Safety and Occupational Health Management program in selected high-risk program functional areas or areas that have a potential for catastrophic mishaps in terms of injury, readiness, and damage in selected WSMR’s missions and functions – and identify trends and determine posture of these program functional areas.

Greene said the purpose of the survey is to assess the unit’s ability to comply with Army regulations and if they can’t to find out why.

“Sometimes it is because a regulation needs to be updated or it needs to be changed.”

He said the survey is a process by which Army Safety gages a unit’s ability to comply with Army regulations and then to gage their safety program in the areas surveyed. At the end they give the unit an out brief to let them know how well they are compliant with the regulations and policies. They also make recommendations on where to focus their efforts.

“It is also an opportunity for us to take a look at our regulations and update them as necessary.”

Pierce said that some of what Greene’s team is looking at is bigger than the Department of Defense. When you talk some of the radiation safety, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has licenses and they must follow up to ensure that we are properly doing things, so we don’t lose those licenses and we keep those abilities to do the kinds of tests we are doing.

Greene said sometimes they need to update their policies because things are constantly evolving. “It helps us in the Office of the Director of Army Safety to take a look at any changes that are happening throughout the force so we can update policy and help the rest of the Army as a whole.”

Peter Grelle, Chief WSTC Safety Office at WSMR, said the Special Interest Survey provides an important feedback loop on how the Army safety program is being implemented at the lowest levels.

“The mission at White Sands involves radiation and explosives which are high risk areas that the team will assess during their visit this week. They will be looking at things that are working well and areas that could be improved upon,” Grelle said. “They will take what they learn here at WSMR and aggregate that with what they learned at other Army installations to feed potential changes to Army policy. Overall, this supports the Army safety program to prevent loss and protect people so we can maintain our readiness posture.”

The SIS objectives are to inform senior Army leadership of trends and shortcomings associated with high-risk program functional areas, provide surveyed units an analysis of high-risk program functional areas and targeted recommendations for program improvements, and provide support where needed. In addition, it will make required improvements to Army Safety and Occupational Health policy and standards.

WSMR’s findings and recommendations will be combined with findings and recommendations from other command/installation visits for evaluation of Army programs.

Greene and Pierce said they were impressed with WSMR. Pierce said he was impressed to see how employees who have worked here for 20 to 30 years still execute their jobs with passion.

“I can guarantee you that there are going to be two or three places here at WSMR where we are going to find a best practice,” Pierce said.

Whether it be in laser safety or radiation safety Pierce said the team will be able to take those procedures or SOPs used at WSMR and share them with installations that may need help in those areas.

The U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center serves as the single source of safety and occupational health information for Soldiers, DA Civilians and contractor employees across the force.

The mission of CRC is focused on the prevention of accidental loss of people and resources.

The commanding general’s vision is that units throughout the Army incorporate risk management into everything they do.

The CRC offers some tools to the force to help incorporate risk management, to include the following:

The Joint Risk Assessment Tool. Anytime an organization wants to do an operation or mission they do a Deliberate Risk Assessment Worksheet. This is where they identify hazards that are associated with the mission or operation and then develop and implement measures to reduce the risk that is associated with that operation. CRC has an automated DRAW that will help Soldiers create the DRAW for a specific mission.

Preliminary Loss Report. Whenever there is a serious mishap CRC puts out a Preliminary Loss Report, a one-page document that identifies a safety related mishap that resulted in loss of life or serious damage to property or a resource.

Safety Briefings. The CRC offers safety briefings to organizations, and they have safety classes already built for them.

CRC also built an Off Duty Safety Awareness Presentation, which the team updates every year. The content is updated every year with new videos and content to keep it relevant. It covers all manner of off duty events to include motorcycle riding or water sports.

All these resources are available on their website at safety.army.mil.

By Miriam Rodriguez

WSMR Public Affairs