MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- Three employees from Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California, are reaping kudos for a Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) presentation during a safety summit in Tucson, Arizona, April 17.
Reah Andrews, S-4 Supply fuels manager; Danielle Heinze, S-3 Operations, Business Performance Office, Continuous Process Improvement project analyst; and Isaac Padilla, investigative assistant, Criminal Investigation Division, Security and Emergency Services; all have non-safety positions aboard MCLBB, but they also have additional duties as Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) committee members and Special Government Employees
“(SGEs) conduct safety audits at other government and private industries sites along with members of an (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) team to determine if they qualify for recommendation to get a VPP Safety Star or recertify to keep the Star they already have,” Andrews said.
MCLB Barstow was the first base in the Marine Corps to garner Safety Star status in 2008, the achievement personally heralded by the then Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway, when he attended the award ceremony at the base.
Since then MCLBB has recertified twice for the Star, giving the base an 11-year record of outstanding safety, and a valuable resource for other government agencies and private industry to draw on.
The three VPP members themselves drew upon that long record of safety to unleash a high energy presentation during the 2019 VPP Participants Association (VPPPA) Region IX Safety Summit entitled “Shooting for a Starr.” It was staged at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Hotel, in Tucson, Arizona, April 16, 17, and 18, 2019.
“We presented a program called ‘Been There, Done That, Now What?’” Heinze said. “It showed our journey to getting our first VPP Safety Star, what we’ve done since then, and what our plans are ahead.”
During the 45-minute presentation, the panel of MCLB Barstow VPPs & SGEs took questions from the audience and engaged others in discussions about the importance of safety and how those government and corporate entities could qualify for their own Safety Star. There was standing room only in the conference hall which held 125 seats. Summit participants had their choice of other seminars staged by other agencies, but those drew a maximum audience of 20 or 40 people.
Heinze added that one of the best ways for an installation to get a Star is to get everyone on base thinking and talking safety.
“Our employees are involved in the effort to be safe,” she said. “Other installations have told us that is one of the attitudes they want to instill at their worksite, to have all of the employees concerned about safety, not just the safety office.”
To put a little more pressure on the trio, Col. Craig C. Clemans, commanding officer, MCLB Barstow, sat front rows for the presentation along with Sgt. Maj. Sergio MartinezRuiz, base sergeant major.
“We got a lot of praise from Col. Clemans on what we had done,” Padilla said. “And throughout the hotel, we would hear random summit participants within our earshot saying ‘Did you see that presentation from Barstow? It was really good.’”
“We felt really good about it,” Andrews said. “I got emails from people saying we were really engaging and positive about what getting the Star means, and they wanted to embody that sense of energy for their programs and could we come and speak at their installation.”
“You could see how much impact we had on the conference by the number of people who came to our presentation and large amount of participants who stayed to comment afterwards,” LaTisha Dixie Zeman, said. She accompanied the group as communications support. “This was an opportunity to get our installation’s name out there and let people see how amazing our little base is and how much we accomplished, not just our safety team but throughout every base department to obtain OSHA Star Safety Status twice!”
Padilla said the same group will be giving the same presentation at Navy Air Station Lemoore, California, this week.
Colonel Clemans noted that of all the groups at the summit, MCLB Barstow had the only presentation not done by safety professionals.
“It is a testament to the commitment MCLB has to safety at all levels,” Clemans said. “Their presentation was impressively energetic, professional and informative. I couldn't have been prouder of them!”
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