Waste water treatment plant embraces VPP challenge Published March 7, 2008 By Lisa Mathews Robins Air Force Base, GA -- The supervisor and operators of the Robins waste water treatment plant had no reservations about accepting the Bronze Star challenge of the Voluntary Protection Program last October. As far as the plant's staff is concerned, they have been on the VPP journey for the last seven years. "I've always preached safety for my guys, and anything I can do to help them with safety equipment and processes out there to make it safe has always been my goal," said Debbie Crawford, plant supervisor. "This (VPP) is just putting a name on it." Ms. Crawford explained that the plant has been practicing safety all along and when the opportunity to take the Bronze Star challenge was presented to her work force, they were very willing to accept that challenge. "I think we've met a lot of requirements on the check list so far," she said. "We haven't done the 6S, which is basically organizing your facility; but all along we've been doing a clean up process. It's going to be an ongoing thing, a continuous process and we're learning." "VPP didn't change much; everyone was pretty much doing safety things, so there wasn't too much added on. It's a continuation of what was going on already," said Terry Warren, plant operator and VPP representative for the facility. Shortly after the plant operators took the challenge he and Ms. Crawford toured John Mansfield, a roofing business in Macon, to see how that facility was implementing VPP and to learn more about the program. "Talking with their core team and their supervisors, I just thought it was a wonderful program," Ms. Crawford said. "One of the things we noticed during the John Mansfield visit was that, before you enter their plant, they have a visitor's sign-in book. "That's one of the things we've done on our front gate. We've put a sign up asking everyone - whether they are a visitor, a worker or a contractor - to come into the office and sign off," she said. This enables the plant's staff to brief anyone within the area on any hazards they should be aware of when at the site. Everyone is briefed on any personal protection equipment they should use while at the plant. "That's part of the culture change - for the operators to be more involved in safety and telling other people, 'You can't go there,' or "This is what you need to do,'" Ms. Crawford said. The plant operators agreed they would rather be concerned with keeping plant visitors safe than worrying about insulting someone by reminding them to use safety precautions in the area. Another initiative the plant employees have implemented is their VPP wall. Anyone on the staff can post safety-related materials they find and kudos for the facility can be displayed. In addition, the group conducts frequent safety meetings; however, any of the plant's employees can bring up a safety issue at any time, not just during called meetings. "Being out in the facility in the daily job you do you can recognize safety issues, and we bring it back to the meetings and talk to Mr. Warren or Ms. Crawford about it," said plant operator Michael Gilbert. "There are ways of achieving goals ... sometimes you can't get it done immediately, but it can be done through a process." Operator Jerry Elsberry finds a greater convenience to his daily job through VPP efforts. "We've put up a lot of Personal Protective Equipment dispensers around the plant for gloves and hearing protection in places where we need them frequently," he said. "Before we had to come back to get them. Now we have them handy so people will use them. We've also put up a lot of signs to help us identify our known hazards." Another operator has found the training involved with safety and VPP to be beneficial. "I enjoy the training. I've seen a lot of films," said Jerry Strickland. "The 3-D training was very progressive and really opened my eyes. "Safety is for everyone," said operator Charleston Thomas. "We go around and make sure everything here is safe for us and the visitors we have. It makes things a whole lot better for everyone." Other members of the waste water treatment plant team are operators Donald Shirah, Francis Wilson, Mathew Zanders and Ken Brown.