Robins earns high marks in inspection Published Feb. 12, 2009 By Wayne Crenshaw 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Robins had its best performance ever in an external inspection done every three years to assess the environment and occupational health compliance of the base. The Environmental Management System portion of the report, based on an inspection conducted in January, found the base in "full conformance" with EMS standards. There were no new findings. "I'm very pleased," said Becky McCoy, chief of the environmental division in the 78th Civil Group. "It's the first time the base has had no new findings." The environmental portion focused on management of air quality, cultural resources, hazardous materials, natural resources and pesticides, just to name a few. The Occupational Health portion of the inspection also went well. In fact, it was the best report ever by an Air Logistics Center and the second best ever for an Air Force Materiel Command base, said Lt. Col. Stephen Novac, chief of bioenvironmental engineering. His group identifies safety hazards at worksites throughout the base. The Occupational Health inspectors looked at 73 shops assessing how effectively safety is communicated and the uses of personal protective equipment. The inspectors had seven positive findings, which indicated innovative techniques to improve safety. They found no critical findings, six major findings and 49 minor findings. The 55 total negative findings might sound like a lot, but Colonel Novac said that's only about half of what would be expected at an industrial operation the size of Robins and with the scope of the inspection that was conducted. It's also about a 50-percent reduction in the number of findings from the last external EOHCAMP, or Environmen-tal and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment and Management Program, inspection three years ago. Colonel Novac credited the improvement to the base's Voluntary Protection Program. "Our people here in bioenvironmental are doing an excellent job of going out and working with the shop supervisors in identifying the hazards," Colonel Novac said. "The work places themselves have bought into VPP. VPP is a huge part." The reason the inspections typically show many findings is that the same problem found in multiple workplaces on base will result in a finding for each instance. For example, Colonel Novac said, the inspectors found several instances of latex gloves being used, and each instance resulted in a finding. Latex gloves should not be used because latex is not considered adequate protection from a hazardous chemical. Colonel Novac said the problem results from improper ordering of supplies, which he said can be easily fixed. He was also troubled by instances of employees eating in hazardous areas, which isn't supposed to happen because hazardous material can be ingested. That problem is also being addressed, he said. The base conducts an internal EOHCAMP inspection every year, but every three years a team from Air Force Materiel Command headquarters conducts the study.