Supervisor Safety Surveillance Program

Published June 6, 2008
By Steve Serrette
72nd ABW Safety Office

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- Proper and effective training enables Air Force personnel to meet and possibly exceed their Air Force Occupational Safety and Health program responsibilities. The following is IAW AFI 91-301 (AFOSH Program), and is directed at managers and supervisors.
   Supervisor Safety Training: Supervisors are the key in the AFOSH program because they are responsible for maintaining safe and healthful environments in their areas of responsibility. Supervisors must know the OSH requirements for their work areas and enforce compliance. They receive AFOSH training through management and professional development courses, Air Force Hazard Communication Program train-the-trainer training, MAJCOM-developed training programs, locally developed programs, and mandatory completion of the Air Force SST Course. The SST Course provides supervisory personnel with a working knowledge of their basic responsibilities for providing and maintaining safe and healthful working conditions; recognition, reporting, and elimination of hazards; employee safety motivation; mishap investigation; and other required skills to implement the AFOSH program at the working level.
   Personnel Required to Attend:
   · Noncommissioned officers and senior airmen when first assigned to a supervisory position.
   · Commissioned officers when first assigned as a supervisor.
   · Civilian personnel upon initial assignment to a supervisory position.
   · Any supervisor needing refresher training or who demonstrates a lack of safety knowledge or initiative.

   Safety, Fire Protection, and Health On-The-Job Training:
   Supervisors must provide specialized safety, fire protection, and health on-the-job training to all Air Force personnel. Using a job-specific Job Safety Training Outline (JSTO or Lesson Plan), supervisors provide training to newly assigned individuals and to all individuals in an area if there is a change in equipment, procedures, processes, or safety, fire protection, and health requirements. Safety, fire protection, and health officials can provide technical assistance to supervisors in developing an appropriate lesson plan for this training. Supervisors must review their lesson plans annually and update whenever equipment, procedures, or the work environment change. This review must be documented. The training outline, as a minimum, must address all 24 mandatory items listed in Attachment 5 of AFI 91-301.
   Documentation of Training: Supervisors are responsible for documenting completion of initial and recurring job training on the AF Form 55, Employee Safety and Health Record, and maintaining strict control over the document. The supervisor will maintain the AF Form 55 in the workplace and will update training when necessary. For enlisted personnel, this form may be filed with the AF Form 623, On-the-Job Training Record; for civilian personnel, the form may be filed with the AF Form 971; and for all others, the form may be filed where designated by the supervisor.
   The AF Form 55 will be used to document safety, fire protection, and health training unless other specific documentation is specified elsewhere. Supervisors must maintain a training outline that matches the numeric sequence on the AF Form 55 and document dates of initial new-employee training on the Form 55. Required annual refresher training (fire, ergonomics, etc.) can be annotated on the AF Form 55, authorized versions, or an equivalent computer-generated product that is a true, reproducible and historically accurate facsimile (ETMS, etc.). There is no written requirement to conduct the 24-topic briefing annually.
   On Tinker, it is a requirement that ALL government employees (military and civilian, administrative and industrial) must have job safety training and the training must be documented on the individual's AF Form 55 (Section IV).
   NOTE: Supervisors of all military personnel 26 years old and younger; upon the employee receiving New Employee Orientation, must document the training on the employee's AF Form 55 (Section IV).

   Maintnance and Disposition of AF Form 55s: The AF Form 55 SHALL be provided to individuals to hand carry to the next assignment when they transfer. The AF Form 55 is a legal form of the employee's work history and shall NOT be destroyed, shredded, lost, or misplaced. If a new AF Form 55 is created for an employee, then simply attached the old to the new and continue to maintain as mandated. IAW AFMC Sup. 1 (7.2.3) to AFI 91-301, the AF Form 55 will be retained for 3 years after the individual retires (transfers). For further questions, please contact Steve Serrette at the 72nd ABW Safety office at 739.3263.