News

Safety office garners three awards

  • Published
  • By Sandra Pishner
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  Ground, weapons, and flight safety programs in the 446th Airlift Wing each earned the Air Force Reserve Command Chief of Safety Outstanding Achievement award.

Going three for three, the wing safety office earned the awards for their fiscal year 2012 programs.

Significant accomplishments include zero Class A and Class B mishaps.

"The overall safety culture of the 446th Airlift Wing speaks well of our supervisors and commanders," said Maj. Gene Ballou, 446th AW chief of safety.

"We spent time revamping our SharePoint site and making our programs more digital and we took an active lead regarding the Risk Management Program.

A key point for the ground safety award is how well the staff executed weapons safety integration within the joint base construct. Ballou, who took the reins of the safety office in December 2012, also points out that the wing's success during the operational readiness inspection in October 2012 played a role in having an award-winning year.

The awards didn't come easy though. The ground safety manager position has been vacant since April 2013.

With the departure of Senior Master Sgt. Dave Ponce, our entire ground safety staff had to step up," said Ballou.

And step up they did, according to Ballou, with Master Sgt. Bruce Perkin managing personnel, Tech. Sgt. Darin Foster leading self-inspection visits, and Tech. Sgts. Gary Graf and Marlon Madrishin conducting safety training, inspections, and answering countless questions from unit safety representatives.

"Tech. Sgt. Jodie McMahon led our efforts in the weapons safety program, which brought praise from AFRC safety leadership. She's been a positive force in the weapons safety program," said Ballou.

Lt. Col. Jon Karnes has spent countless hours on the flight safety program and his skill and efforts have been invaluable, said Ballou.

The wing had 6,692 mishap-free flying hours in fiscal year 2013. That's 1,754 sorties, carrying 22,964 people, and 34,056 tons of cargo.