Voluntary Protection Program comes to MacDill

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Patrice Clarke
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AFB, Fla. --  Take a second and look around the work center. Spot where the next mishap will happen? Spotting where the mishap might occur in the workplace is one of the four key elements of the Voluntary Protection Program that is being implemented here.
A 10 member assessment team visited the base in recently to begin the process of implementing the program.

VPP is a partnership between the Air Force and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promote effective safety and health programs. It is based on cooperative relationships between management, labor and OSHA to develop and promote a comprehensive safety and occupational health management system. The program compliments the Air Force environment, safety and occupational health management system.

"The Voluntary Protection Program is the ultimate safety program," said Lt. Col. Jennifer Uptmor, 6th Air Mobility Wing chief of safety. "Its goal is to make every Airman knowledgeable of safety practices in their workplace and safety, in general." 

The program consists of four key elements: Management/union commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control and health and safety training. 

"Employee involvement is the key," said Lt. Col. Wade Weisman, Air Staff Occupational Health, Force Health Protection office and member of the VPP assessment team. "The same buddy check concept used when putting on your Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear is the same concept that should be used on the job. Just as you would check your buddy to ensure their gear is put on correctly you would check your co-workers to ensure they have on the correct safety gear for their job." 

The assessment team comprised of three Air Mobility Command representatives, a Pentagon representative and safety personnel from other bases conducted a work-side analysis, visiting base facilities and interviewing various base personnel. They then compiled the information gathered and presented them to base leadership. 

"While here, we wanted to see what the existing safety culture was," said Colonel Weisman. "We were very pleased with how the members of MacDill approach safety from the commander and his safety views all the way down to the crew chiefs, we can tell that safety is important at MacDill." 

Colonel Uptmor and the rest of base leadership were pleased with the results from the VPP assessment. 

"The results were absolutely indicative of the safety culture we have already embraced," she said. "This program isn't the ten-mile forced road march ... this is a pretty easy program to incorporate since we already are off to a great start. That is due to the outstanding Wing Ground Safety Office as well as every commander, supervisor and Airman here that goes out of their way to ensure we take care of each other."

Everyday throughout the work centers potential hazards present themselves. With VPP, base members can recognize those hazards and prevent the next mishap from occurring.