History of Safety in America

Did you know that the first Federal organization for oversight and implementation of Occupational Safety and Health in America goes all the back to the Army in 1927??It was established by the Army Chief of the Air Corps to perform inspections. Later the Air Force separated from the Army. ?Initially safety was grouped in with all types of procedures such as equipment maintenance. In the 1950’s operations were moved to Norton Air Force Base in California and operations still also included improvements to the maintenance of the aircraft, to make flying safer, and a Medical Service Inspection team. ?In the years leading up to the Occupational Safety and Health Act the Air Force had moved their safety operations to the Office of Assistant for Medical Services under the Deputy Inspector General as the 1002nd Inspector General Group.

The rest of us finally caught up about 1970 and in 1971 the 1002nd became the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center.?In 2021 they had another name and address change to the Department of the Air Force Inspection Agency headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.?While there are a LOT of acronyms, I could not find any before and after fatality, injury, and illness numbers.?The military has a lot to deal with that most in the private sector do not, bombs, bullets, radiation, so it’s good to know that they take the lives of our military seriously off the battlefield as well.

In fact, the DAFIA is preparing for National Safety Month just like public and private organizations across the United States. ?Sponsored by the nonprofit National Safety Council, National Safety Month offers both private and public sector leaders a prime opportunity to energize accident prevention efforts and engage employees in safety.

?You know, the Air Force website that contained their history of safety said “engage soldiers on safety.”?Aside from being concerned with plagiarism I did not want to use the word “on” because that still puts employees on the outside of safety.?

?Employees are our First Responders to their injured coworkers.?They are our first line of defense in safety and no business or service can afford to put them on the sidelines.?They see the accidents waiting to happen.?They are the ones using the tools and protections we install for their safety. ?We’ve all seen the ingenious work arounds they create if those protections get in the way of an employee’s prime purpose: doing what you hired them to do.?

At Simple Safety Coach we’ve developed pathways for employee involvement in the reporting, investigation, and correction of unsafe conditions.?Our software takes care to not add administrative time on the Safety Manager and employees can participate without leaving their work area.?With employees involved they can help engineer out the inefficiencies they feel they have to bypass in order to get the work done.

Interested??We’d love to see if our software can help you fill your safety gaps. ?You can

Book a Demo, call 888.489.0997, or email -?[email protected].