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OC-ALC manager reveals key to work safety

  • Published
  • By John Parker
  • Staff writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Randey Hayes' commitment to safety doesn't stop outside the Tinker Air Force Base gates.

If Mr. Hayes, an occupational safety manager for the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, happens to walk through the sliding automatic doors of a big-box retail store and he sees the edge of a floor mat curled over, he'll take action.

"It drives me nuts," Mr. Hayes said. "I'll go and grab them and pull them tight. I don't want anyone to fall, so I'll fix them."

Mr. Hayes, Tech. Sgt. Sarah Lenker, 552nd Air Control Wing occupational safety technician, and Senior Master Sgt. Ricky Carroll, 552nd ACW occupational safety manager, conducted five classes and an open house last week to raise awareness about slips, trips and falls hazards. 

More than 200 people, many from the OC-ALC and the 552nd ACW, learned keys to preventing falls in conjunction with the May 2-6 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration promotes the week.

Mr. Hayes has worked in the safety field for 13 years, starting at Tinker in 2013. In that time he's seen employees put safety second as they ignore, and even trip on, warning signs, stray outside designated walkways and walk down stairs looking down at a cell phone and not holding a railing.

"It's just a matter of time before somebody's going to come tumbling down those stairs," Mr. Hayes said.

Speaking at a safety class May 4, Mr. Hayes said his latest safety surprise happened during his lunch hour. He spied a sizeable puddle on the floor in a place where people on fitness walks often pass through in Bldg. 3001. Failing to find a mop nearby, he posted hazard signs.

Doing something about a danger is everyone's duty, Mr. Hayes said.

"You have to actually take individual responsibility for not only your safety, but other people's safety

around you to make sure that you at least take care of the hazard," he said.
Mr. Hayes said that while Team Tinker members are regularly exposed to safety training, information posters and other resources, those are not necessarily the most important elements for building a workplace safety mindset.

"No matter how many regulations OSHA put outs, no matter how many safety policies, safety letters and safety flashes ... that doesn't create the change," Mr. Hayes said. "The change is created by the individual actually accepting those changes and changing their behavior to match that."

Not having a safety-first mentality and failing to act on rules already out there can lead to serious injury or worse. 

"We safety people always find that people will go to great lengths to try to get out of implementing a safety solution that's already published, when they could have done it and been done with it a long time ago," Mr. Hayes said.

"The safety standards are all written in blood, as we say it in safety, and what that means is if you're reading something in a safety standard, that's happened to somebody. They've already experienced that injury. Always stay vigilant."