180th ESOH inspection: Take time to help!

Swanton, Ohio -- You may have seen some member's "dumpster diving" around base. While these poor people aren't dumpster diving to make money from your waste, they are doing it to help the base become aware of our recycling issues. Recycling is an Executive Order by the President, but it is also an inspection item on the upcoming May Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health inspection.

The ESOH inspection is a compliance inspection based off of OSHA, AFOSH, DDESB, and FAA regulations and laws, stated Senior Master Sgt. James Dickman, 180th FW Safety Manager.

The purpose is to ensure the 180th FW ESOH programs are effectively addressing problems that could significantly degrade the environment, adversely affect the health and safety of employees, expose the ANG and its people to avoidable financial liabilities as a result of noncompliance with requirements, erode public confidence in the ANG and the defense establishment, and expose individuals to civil and criminal liability.

Environmental will actually have two major assessments during the ESOHCAMP. The first is a conformance audit of our Environmental Management System. This is a rigorous evaluation of our management program ("how" do we ensure compliance) . The EMS audit is an industry standard assessment completed in accordance with ISO 14001(2004). The second is a compliance assessment to verify if the major environmental programs are in compliance. The overall ESOHCAMP evaluates over 100 "protocols" and program areas. The Safety office will have over 400 protocols use to inspect in three areas: ground safety, flight safety and weapons safety. Occupational Health, which is composed of is Public Health and Bioenvironmental Engineering, will also be inspected.

"The ESOHCAMP is not an 'inspection' as most people know them. For a typical inspection, we (Wing) focus a great deal of effort on passing a given higher headquarters inspection and then we move on to the next inspection," said Lt. Col Bill
Antoszewski. "We can't afford that approach in the ESOH community; our programs must be inspection-ready 365 days a year because we never know when we'll be inspected by a regulatory agency. For example, less than a month before the ORI, we received a 'no notice' inspection of our hazardous waste management program from Region 5, US EPA. 'Failure' in this inspection would have resulted in a Notice of Violation (NOV) and the potential for significant fines and penalties. Fortunately, our 'always ready' approach resulted in a no findings from EPA."

The ESOHCAMP process is 3-tiered:

·Tier 1 is a quarterly checklist that must be completed by the shop supervisor. We use the results of the Tier 1 to verify shop compliance and identify areas for improvement.

·Tier II is an annual internal assessment. In Ohio, we used the combined environmental management offices from Toledo, Springfield, Rickenbacker and Mansfield to perform the assessment at each base. This provides us good comparison and cross feed with the other bases.

·Tier III is an every 3-year assessment performed by NGB and contract support personnel. This is the assessment we'll have this May.

According to Lt. Col. Antoszewski, each shop area has been provided with a Tier 1 checklist that covers their major environmental responsibilities. The checklists cover everything from required inspections and training, how to manage hazardous and universal waste, how to deal with spills, working knowledge of the Wing's environmental policies and program. If a shop can honestly say they're doing everything identified by the checklist, they should have no problem with the ESOHCAMP.

"Members can help by policing their respective areas for compliance with applicable
regulations," said Senior Master Sgt. James Dickman, Wing Safety officer. Every organization on base will be involved but due to the limited time the inspectors will be here, only areas the inspectors want to see will be visited.

The results of the ESOHCAMP's do not have a rating or grade assigned. The ESOHCAMP provides a list of problems or concerns that could be subjected to regulatory inspection, along with recommended corrective actions. The process helps us identify problem areas that we might have overlooked. It gives us a roadmap of areas and programs we need to address. Just as important, the process provides justification for Air Force funding to correct the problems, stated Antoszewski.

As 180th members, take the time to review your Tier 1 checklist and take the time to separate your trash. Both are simple tasks and if you have any questions or concerns contact the assessment team. The POC's are:

Environmental: Lt. Col. Bill Antoszewski, ext. 4270 or Ms. Jennifer Lake, ext. 4281; Flight Safety: Lt. Col. Kevin Kelly, ext. 4075; Ground Safety: Senior Master Sgt. Jim Dickman, ext. 4238; Weapons Safety: Master Sgt. George Plascencio, ext. 4538; Bioenvironmental Engineering: Tech. Sgt. Ann McCormick, ext. 4424; Public Health : Tech. Sgt. Andrea Vollmer, ext. 4286