Week of March 26 – April 1, 2008

The Voluntary Protection Program is an enhanced safety program that focuses on developing and caring for the safety of Airmen, civilians and their families. It’s a program all of us should know about and understand.

Building a culture of safety is not just a quality-of-life issue. An Airman or worker sidelined by preventable injuries and illnesses costs the Air Force money. In 2007, the civilian injury rate was 2.78 per 100 people. That means there were 4,417 injuries and illnesses and 2,327 of those that resulted in lost time. There were more than 2,200 active-duty injuries, which amounted to about 30,000 lost duty days.

Simply put, VPP is getting every one of us to actively identify and then take action to rid safety and health hazards, both on and off the job. By implementing VPP, we lower the overall mishap rate as well as increase the health and wellness of both our military and civilian work force. We are teaching each Wingman to identify hazards in the workplace and empower them to be part of the solution. Air Force leaders need you to be safe. America needs our full team in the fight.

Here are some questions for you to consider as you evaluate your home and office for potential safety and health risks:

- What potential hazards can you identify in your routine jobs, tasks and processes?
- What significant changes can you make to remove those hazards?
- How often do you perform a self-inspection in your home and work place?
- Do you and your fellow Airmen know how to report hazards to your chain of command?
- Where are your first aid and emergency response kits located? Is everyone in your office or home aware of          these locations as well?
- Do you know how to fill out an incident report, and where to report it?
- What type of safety training will be helpful for your work center and family at home?
- Does your office have all the documentation needed for the training?

For more information, you can visit the U.S. Department of Labor Occupations Safety and Health Administration’s VPP page at http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html or the Air Force Safety Center Web site at http://www.afsc.af.mil/.

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