OSHA, WR-ALC sign agreement Published Nov. 18, 2010 By 78th ABW Public Affairs 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center signed an important agreement this week with OSHA concerning citations issued earlier this year to buildings 169 and 670. The agreement also includes ongoing OSHA inspections as part of the Federal Agency Targeting inspection program. "The safety and health of our workforce is our number one priority," said Maj. Gen. Polly A. Peyer, WR-ALC commander. "The agreement supports our efforts to provide the best and safest working environment for our employees." In the agreement, OSHA will work with the Center over the next several years to address both the citations and areas of concern identified during more-recent OSHA inspections, which include other sites. As part of that, the Center will provide OSHA certification of "all completed abatements" or request extensions for those which require additional time. The certifications or requests must be made within 30 days. In those instances which require additional time, Center officials are putting interim protection measures in place while long-term solutions are developed. "In all cases, we will work with OSHA, the Union (American Federation of Government Employees 987), and others to ensure immediate hazards are addressed. Some of the permanent solutions will take time, such as designing and implementing the most optimal processes or purchasing the latest state-of-the-art equipment," said Bill Best, special assistant to the commander for safety and occupational health. The Center also agrees to continue to strengthen its existing occupational safety and health program. In many areas, the Center will be implementing processes and procedures which go beyond mere compliance with OSHA and Air Force requirements. This includes establishment of a Center-wide Occupational Health and Safety Office as well as an Occupational Safety and Health Working Group to advise on safety and occupational health compliance, risk reduction, and continuous process improvement across the Center. The Working Group membership will include the safety and health Center offices, other primary Center stakeholders and the Union with OSHA serving in an advisory role. In addition, the Center will establish an Employee Concern Response process, modeled after OSHA's complaint process, which will ensure health- and safety-related concerns and issues are addressed in a timely manner. Also, the Center will review its employee medical surveillance and monitoring program to ensure it is conducted in accordance with all applicable instructions and standards, and will work with employees to address their concerns about workplace hazards. "We are going to work very hard to ensure the concerns of members of WR-ALC are addressed," said Bill Best. "In addition, we are going to take advantage of this situation and partner with OSHA, the Union, and AFMC to conduct a top-to-bottom review of our safety and health processes and improve them at every level. Continuous improvement of our safety and health processes will be at the forefront of our initiatives." "This agreement is vital," said Peyer. "Our success will be predicated on a strong and successful partnership with the entire workforce, the Union, and OSHA. We look forward to this opportunity." The agreement will be posted on all official Center bulletin boards and can be read in its entirety here.