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June 2024

MEDIA National Safety Month June 2024

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Top Lines
  • Embrace a modern approach to safety through the Army Safety and Occupational Health Management System (ASOHMS) approach to modernization.
  • Learn from what is going right and apply best management practices where we can.
  • Pay attention to and improve safety all year. Safety is an everyday event; it is not episodic and not limited to a month.
  • Lead by example; don’t just encourage safe behaviors but demonstrate them every day!
  • Promote positive safety communications through products and platforms, making safety resources available to all Soldiers, Civilians and Families throughout the year.
Links & Resources

What can YOU do to observe National Safety Month?   Share these tips daily with your Soldiers, Civilians, and Contractors!

Week 1 - Safety Engagement (ASOHMS)

  • Written policy and procedures that integrates safety and occupational health into management practices.
  • Align performances, resourcing, and recognition with safety practices that leads to leadership communication with personnel and soldier involvement.
  • Leadership promptly reports near misses and mishaps to identify root cause and provide corrective action to prevent reoccurrence.
  • Ensure all personnel’s safety and health knowledge is fulfilled with quality training as required by regulatory and organizational guidance.
  • Provide a safe and health work environment free of recognized hazards through a written inspection process that conducts periodic, routine, and annual inspections.
  • Use an effective risk management process in the workplace and ensure to conduct a hazard assessment for job tasks and activities are performed.
  • Make sure a process is in place for effective communication of known health risks.

Week 2 - Roadway Safety (On & Off Duty Driving)

  • Helmets must meet DOT standards and be properly fastened under the chin.
  • Overall Tip: Be Wise. Stay Alive. Wear Your PPE!
  • Full face helmets offer the best protection. HNTSA estimates that helmets reduce the likelihood of a crash fatality by 37% and brain injury by 67%.
  • Clothing… Dress for the SLIDE not the ride! Garments made from leather or abrasion resistant fabric provide a high level of protection.
  • Experienced riders know local traffic laws - and they don't take risks. Obey traffic lights, signs, speed limits, and lane markings; ride with the flow of traffic and leave plenty of room between your bike and other vehicles; and always check behind you and signal before you change lanes.
  • Alcohol and drugs, including some prescribed medications, negatively affect your judgment, coordination, balance, throttle control, and ability to shift gears. These substances also impair your alertness and reduce your reaction time. Even when you're fully alert, it's impossible to predict what other vehicles or pedestrians are going to do. Therefore, make sure you are alcohol and drug free when you get on your motorcycle. Otherwise, you'll be heading for trouble.
  • Completing a motorcycle rider education course is mandatory for Soldiers so you have the correct instruction and experience it takes to ride a motorcycle. Contact your leadership and state motor vehicle administration to find a motorcycle rider-training course near you.

Week 3 - Risk Reduction (Family & Home Safety)

  • Mowing a lawn or weed whacking in shorts and sandals is UNSAFE! Wear pants and a long-sleeved shirt and use safety glasses, steel-toed boots, and hearing protection.
  • Staircases: Keep children safe from tumbling down steps by installing safety gates at both the bottom and top of staircases.
  • Check to ensure appliances are not plugged into power strips.
  • Ensure cleaning chemicals and chemicals for lawncare are secured to prevent children from accessing.
  • Monitor children in the kitchen and do not leave them unattended.
  • Ensure that you have carbon monoxide and fire detectors in your home and test them regularly.
  • If you have a swimming pool or pond, then it should be in a fenced area. Never leave children in an unsupervised situation when water is about, including paddling pools.

Week 4 - Slips, Trips, and Falls

  • Slips/trips/falls are the #1 cause of injury to Soldiers and Civilians. The risk of slips/trips/falls must be considered in mission or task planning!
  • Maintain good housekeeping practices, keep walkways clear, provide adequate lighting, and implement safety procedures and training.
  • To avoid slips/trips/falls in foot movements, it is important to walk as smoothly as possible to reduce the high impacts and accelerations which the body is subject to when carrying heavy loads.
  • Never jump from a vehicle – maintain 3-points of contact when mounting or dismounting.
  • The ability of Soldiers to avoid slips/trips/falls is directly influenced by their combat loads. Soldier load should be limited to mission-essential equipment. Leaders should not expect Soldiers to carry equipment for all possible situations.
  • Never use makeshift climbing devices like boxes, shelves or chairs. Get a step stool or ladder and use it properly.
  • During foot march halts, check clothing (for example, change socks if needed), adjust and refit loads, switch crew-served weapons and other heavy loads from tired Soldiers to those who are less tired, and check the physical condition of Soldiers.