101 Critical Days of Summer focuses on personal responsibility for safety

  • Published
  • By Capt. Geoff Buteau
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Even though the weather hasn't suggested summer has arrived, the calendar would beg to differ. So would the 66th Air Base Group Safety Office here at Hanscom, which is promoting the theme of personal responsibility under the tagline, "Live, work, play; plan your day," for this year's 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign. The campaign aims to promote awareness for military and civilian summer safety.

Senior Master Sgt. Shelley Barton, safety superintendent at Hanscom, said that for as many different ways there are to look at it, safety always comes down to personal responsibility.

"We're all responsible for our own safety. We're just here to provide you with the tools to keep you aware," she said.

One of those tools that Hanscom has is the common website on the Electronic Systems Center Centernet that includes briefings, modules and weekly safety topics for everyone at Hanscom to train themselves, train their units or make their families aware.

While Hanscom has a good safety record as compared to other bases, Sergeant Barton said, it may be because of some of Hanscom's characteristics -- in particular, the short New England summer. With less time for boating, swimming, hiking and other summer activities, the risk is lower.

But, she said, there is plenty of safety risks to be aware of for those who work at Hanscom and live in the area.

"When everyone gets ready to take off early because of the long weekend, hopefully they'll be thinking about how they've been at work for nine or 10 hours and they don't try to get in the car for another 10 or 12 hours just to get somewhere to enjoy the weekend," she said.

In addition to the weather and weather-condition related mishap spikes Sergeant Barton sees in the winter, the big issue at Hanscom is people playing sports, which definitely increases during the 101 Critical Days of Summer.

Her advice: play within your limits.

"A lot of it is just people getting too aggressive on the courts or on the fields," she said.

Knowing the limitations of themself as an athlete, she said, can help people avoid injuries like turned ankles during a basketball game.

As Sergeant Barton mentioned, safety starts with personal responsibility. While there is no replacement for a proactive supervisor or unit safety representative, the safety website is available to any individual who works on Hanscom. It includes training that re-enforces topics like risk assessment, consequence management, the impact of human factors and creating positive control environments at work and at home.

"These videos are what people want," she said. "They don't want to read a boring sheet of paper with text. They want to be interactive."

Each module is published for the entire summer and can be viewed immediately. To view the videos, visit Centernet and click on the Safety and Security links on the bottom, left side of the home page.