Base-wide ESOHCAMP assessment set to begin Mar. 29 Published March 15, 2010 By Carroll Hale 452 AMW Environmental Mngt MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- During the week of March 29 to April 2, a guest team of auditors from Air Force Reserve Command will be coming to our base to assist us by performing an external ESOHCAMP (Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment & Management Program) assessment of our operations and work practices. This includes all tenants and organizations performing activities at March ARB. Why are we excited? It's very simple. March ARB uses internal and external assessments as oversight tools to help us continually improve our performance. Whether it is improving our compliance with legal and other requirements, ensuring the protection of our Airmen and staff while per¬forming their duties, or making sure our Environmental Management System is on track and working well, everyone benefits when we appropriately manage the risks to our health, safety, environment and mission. These assessments are not used to take names and beat up people. Instead, they are used to help us determine where we need to focus our efforts to better equip and train our Airmen and civilian staff to perform their tasks in an environmentally safety-conscientious manner. This approach is utilized to minimize our risks and maximize the sustainability of our mission. This is an assessment of our processes, not our people. ESOHCAMP findings are not necessarily bad things to have. As a matter of fact, we not only expect to have findings, we prefer that we find as many issues and vulnerabilities during these assessments as possible. The ESOHCAMP assessment process is specifically intended to flush out our vulnerabilities so we can address them properly and permanently. If something is not quite right, we want to fix it! We would much rather find it ourselves and correct it quickly than have it continue to present a risk to our mission, health, safety or the environment. This also improves our performance during compliance inspections conducted by federal, state and regional inspectors. How can we prepare? Over the next month, our Program Managers from Environmental Management, Wing Safety and Bioenvironmental Engineering/Occupational Health will be working with you to perform readiness audits (or spot checks) in the field to identify areas needing improvement in our processes, work environments and our health and safety practices and performance during the ESOHCAMP assessment. Conduct your own readiness audit within your unit. Using the inspection checklists you have (daily, monthly, quarterly and annual checklists), take a close look at your unit to make sure your operations and work practices are consistent with all regulatory requirements. Make sure all required records are being properly filled out and maintained - actually go and physically (or electronically) find them to make sure they are complete and readily available. This includes both operational and training records. These are some of the things that our guest ESOHCAMP Assessment Team members will review during the assessment. Better yet, invite someone from another unit to perform your readiness audit and offer to do the same for them. This will provide a fresh set of eyes to look at our operations and work practices, increases our objectivity and minimizes the assumptions we tend to make about our regulatory compliance and work practices. Another way to prepare is by increasing your EMS awareness. Do you know what commitments were made by our wing commander in March ARB's Environmental Policy? Do you know where to find it? Have you ever read it? Do you know the three risk areas (a.k.a. significant environmental aspects) that have been identified as areas March ARB is focusing on over the next year? Everyone is fair game for ESOHCAMP auditors to ask these questions to during the ESOHCAMP assessment. Each individual will also be receiving an EMS Smart Card, a wallet-sized card that contains a "Cliff Notes" version of our Environmental Policy and focus areas. Become familiar with the information it contains and keep it with you, especially during the week of the audit. If you have an issue or concern about risk to safety, health, the environment and/or our mission regarding a unit's operations and work practices... speak up! This would be particularly helpful if done during our readiness activities. Let's get any issues/concerns out in the open now to give us a chance to get them addressed effectively and improve our performance. Remember, unlike a fine wine, issues and risks do not improve with age. Help us maximize the benefits of this year's external ESOHCAMP assessment by being fully prepared. There is no time like the present, so let's all get started now. MARCH ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY COMMITMENTS · Achieve and surpass compliance with legal and other requirements · Prevent pollution at the source · Integrate EMS to manage aspects (or risks) · Set and review objectives and targets · Continually improve and measure environmental performance · Integrate sustainable design principles into all aspects of our mission · Senior leadership involvement in environmental program management · Communicate our environmental policy · Integrate Air Force core values into our environmental performance 2010 ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS AREAS · Water Consumption · POL Management (petroleum, oils and lubricants, fuel) · Air Emissions (including green house gas emissions)