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Quest for Zero

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Christopher Bowyer-Meeder
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  October is maintenance safety month, and the Air Force is looking to make a huge statement by introducing the "Quest for Zero."

"The Air Force is going to start a new program in fiscal year 2015," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Martin, 325th Fighter Wing Ground Safety manager. "It's going to be the 'Quest for Zero,' which means striving for zero mishaps and zero fatalities."

Martin said this comes on the heels of a year that saw 381 mishaps, several due to slips, trips and falls in maintenance Air Force wide. The falls don't often result in serious injuries, but have been known to lead to minor bumps, bruises or lacerations.

"The 325th FW experienced 66 mishaps for fiscal year 2014," said Tech. Sgt. Jared Stonecipher, 325th FW Ground Safety NCO. "There were 27 Ground Industrial Mishaps, which are mishaps that occur while the member is at work, and 16 Combat Training Mishaps, which are on-duty physical training mishaps."

Martin explained that many of the mishaps are simply a result of a lack of situational awareness or complacency. Service members can get focused on a task, and lose track of the environment around them.

"A great example of this is an injury most F-22 Raptor maintainers call 'Raptor Bites,'" said Martin. "Most occur when the worker fails to see a panel when performing maintenance around the aircraft landing gear, resulting in lacerations to the head or body parts."

In an effort to help the Air Force in the "Quest for zero" campaign, Tyndall personnel have taken several steps to make the base a safer place.

"We're ramping up our spot inspection program," Martin said. "We will be going out to problem areas to educate workers and perform spot inspections. We try to get the word out as well by using methods like sending out monthly 'safety-grams.' Basically, our goal is to create a safe mindset that continues even outside of the work environment."

Both Martin and Stonecipher believe the ultimate goal is to get everyone thinking about safety at all times.

"That's the Air Force's goal," said Martin. "If we can practice good risk management skills on duty, they'll start using them off duty as well."