Assesment teams heading to Tinker Published July 9, 2010 By Keith Yow 72nd Air Base Wing Civil Engineer Directorate TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker is slated to receive an external Environmental, Safety, and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment and Management Program assessment within the next several weeks. Teams from Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command will perform an evaluation of Tinker's environmental, safety, and occupational health programs to assess base compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, as well as Department of Defense and Air Force policies and instructions. Internal ESOHCAMP assessments are conducted annually by base personnel, with HQ AFMC performing an external assessment every three years. In a departure from previous external ESOHCAMPs where the base was given several months notice before the assessment was to occur, AFMC has initiated a new policy of providing only two week notices prior to the beginning of the assessment. This change in policy provides a more accurate evaluation of the everyday status of the installation's ESOH programs. The assessment may also be staged in conjunction with a Unit Compliance Inspection. An additional change to the external assessment will be the methodology used during review of the various environmental programs. Instead of performing numerous site visits and checking for compliance with every applicable environmental regulation, as has been the case in the past, emphasis will be placed on assessing Tinker's Environmental Management System. Based on the International Standard ISO 14001, EMS is a system of management practices, documentation, procedures, and work practices that have been developed to manage the impact that a facility has on the environment. Similar procedures will be used in assessing the safety and occupational health management programs. To prepare for the assessment, all base personnel should have received computer based EMS training and be familiar with the base environmental policy statement both of which are located online at the 72nd Civil Engineering Directorate Environmental Management website. Additionally, personnel should ensure that they are in compliance with the environmental, safety, and occupational health regulations and instructions applicable to their work areas. For more information regarding the assessment you can contact the Base Safety Office at 739-3263, Bioenvironmental Engineering at 734-7844, or Environmental Management at 734-5199.