JOSHUA MOSKOWITZ and JEREMY MCCRANIE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District
Honolulu, Hawaii
Frustration. Confusion. Doubt. These feelings seem to linger about when any institution undergoes a large organizational change or begins implementation of a new management system. With full integration of the Army Safety and Occupational Health Management System (ASOHMS) targeted for 2028, commands across the U.S. Army will soon be neck-deep in navigating the process. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Honolulu District (POH), recently underwent implementation of an almost identical system, albeit with a small name difference, with the Corps of Engineers Safety and Occupational Health Management System (CE-SOHMS) and achieved Army SOH Star Status in February.
What is ASOHMS?
Per the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, ASOHMS is a framework for Army organizations to systematically manage SOH programs to enhance mission capabilities, reduce mishaps and improve readiness through effective risk management. Implementation of the system is a three-stage process that generally follows the Army’s crawl, walk, run methodology. With ASOHMS, this comes in a similar methodological form of baseline, implementation and continuous improvement. The framework for ASOHMS is comprised of six different capability objectives (CO) shown below:
- CO1 – Leadership Engagement and Personnel Readiness
- CO2 – Investigate and Report Mishaps, Incidents and Illnesses
- CO3 – Conduct SOH Training and Promotion
- CO4 – Conduct Inspections and Assessments
- CO5 – Conduct Hazard Analysis and Develop Countermeasures
- CO6 – Health Protection and Readiness
Within the six COs reside 48 criteria, or action items, units will build, implement and improve as they maneuver through implementation. After successful completion of the three stages, organizations will undergo a final evaluation to receive a recommendation for the Army SOH Star. Throughout this process, the requesting organization must conduct various tasks to support the assessment, which may include uploading documents into the ASOHMS portal, coordinating employee interviews, setting up site visits and developing presentations, just to name a few.
What did we learn?
Jeremy McCranie, co-author of this article, hit the ground running when he assumed his role as the POH chief of SOH in March 2022 and immediately set out to conquer the daunting task of achieving successful implementation of CE-SOHMS. At this time, POH was in its third year of CE-SOHMS implementation and still progressing toward Stage 1 completion. Throughout the multi-year process from Stage 1 to the SOH Star assessment, several key lessons were learned as well as some best practices to facilitate Stage 2 and Stage 3 closeout evaluations, the final SOH Star assessment, and integration of SOHMS into the organization’s culture.
When it comes to Stages 2 and 3, it is important to remember there is no right or wrong way to plan or present your implementation achievements and criteria. Throughout these stages, we learned a couple of good practices:
- Separate interviewees into groups of five to 10 personnel, one for supervisors and one for employees, and conduct mock interviews with the teams beforehand. This will ensure they feel comfortable with the process and are open to discussion with the assessors on the organization’s safety culture and management. Conduct an after-action review (AAR) to improve future interviews and assist the employee.
- Include real-life examples in presentations given to the assessors. Don’t be afraid to show emails, pictures or other items that display effective safety practices being implemented in your organization.
- Be sure to get it right the first time when uploading documents into the ASOHMS portal. The effort put in upfront will allow for a more streamlined process down the road.
Eventually, it will come time for the final SOH Star evaluation. It is important to be sufficiently prepared to receive a Star recommendation and avoid the possibility of having to make changes and run back through scheduling or implementation processes. Several practices were key to success during this final evaluation, including:
- Make it easy (for yourself and the assessors). Identify each document uploaded into the ASOHMS portal with the CO number and description.
- Put on a show and roll out the red carpet! During the Star assessment, POH decorated the building with CE-SOHMS banners and posters welcoming the assessors. To help tell our journey, we created multiple products using different platforms. This included a PowerPoint presentation showing our progress from Stage 1 to Star assessment, a video presentation showing recent safety events and discussions with employees, and a comprehensive overview binder that provided leadership biographies, organizational structures, safety policies, copies of the presentations and more.
- Create a realistic schedule. Allow time for the assessors to gather their thoughts and action their inputs. Ensure you coordinate for discussions with the command team, leaders and employees to share the organization’s journey.
Ultimately, it was a team effort to achieve Star status. The safety culture at POH was empowered by a passionate safety staff and employed by leadership and employees who truly owned the program. Some of the crucial aspects that assisted with building the safety culture were the (1) establishment of a centralized location for safety resources that is easily accessible and user friendly; (2) robust safety training goals to include new employee safety orientations within 30 days of onboarding, investing in future leaders (fellows and interns) through mentorship and training, and identifying critical safety training for construction staff to include OSHA 30-Hour Outreach Training and Competent Person Courses; and (3) safety participation through organizational events such as our CE-SOHMS Turkey Trot, Safety Day, Quality Assurance Summit and our very own Safety Avengers (the POH safety chief and construction chief).
Did it work?
Despite being early into our CE-SOHMS journey, POH has experienced some promising results that may offer some encouragement throughout the enterprise. Since kicking off CE-SOHMS Stage 1 in 2019, POH has seen drastic decreases in tracked lagging indicators. Worker’s compensation costs have decreased 100 percent, the days away/restricted or transfer rate (DART) decreased approximately 79 percent throughout the civilian workforce and 52 percent among POH contractors, and near-miss/good-catch reporting increased nearly 142 percent. Additionally, POH is experiencing nearly two-fold increases in hazard reporting annually and will likely experience a similar increase this fiscal year as participation grows in quarterly workplace inspections. Even though the district just recently earned approval for the Army SOH Star, there is a clear distinction in the safety culture from several years ago until now and the emphasis on safety is evident from the leadership down to the employee level.
So, what’s the point of ASOHMS? Is it just another management system the Army is throwing at us? We sure don’t think so. Give it a try and find out!