Base to be assessed for environmental, safety, occupational health efforts

  • Published
  • By Wayne Fowler
  • 82nd Civil Engineer Squadron
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  ESOHCAMP is a rather large acronym for a very big program. 

It stands for Environmental Safety and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment Management Program. Just about everything we do on the base is subject to an environmental regulation, law or directive, and therefore, subject to enforcement by federal and state regulatory agencies. 

Although the Air Force does a good job in day-to-day compliance, bases conduct annual internal or external ESOHCAMP evaluations. The purpose of the annual ESOHCAMP is to enhance Air Force environmental compliance with federal, state, Department of Defense and Air Force regulations, improve compliance management by identifying and tracking trends that can lead to environmental problems, build financial support for environmental compliance projects and assure commanders that the environmental programs are effective. 

An assessment of the safety and occupational health programs is also conducted during this same period. 

The week-long external environmental assessment kicks off Aug. 20 with a new twist. 

The inspection will be the first "lean" assessment in Air Education and Training Command, with evaluation team size reduced from 26 to 16 people and non-sensitive protocols not being assessed. The team consists of military and civilian personnel from Headquarters AETC, including the environmental safety and bioenvironmental functional areas. 

"Using a checklist, evaluation teams are sent throughout the base to measure compliance," said Wayne Fowler, 82nd Civil Engineer Squadron environmental flight ESOHCAMP program manager. "The evaluation team will be taking a hard look at how we manage major areas or 'protocols' such as the base's hazardous materials, air emissions, water program, fuels storage, safety and occupational health management. Any discrepancies found will be noted and corrected as soon as possible." 

In conjuction with the ESOHCAMP assessment, the team will have qualified members on the team to "audit" the Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Management System. Since each person on Sheppard, including military, civilians, contractors, and tenants, is expected to be familiar with the installation ESOHMS, particularly the ESOHMS policy. 

Each person should have received an "ESOHMS business card" recently. This card outlines the primary points of our policy "IMPROVE." All personnel should be able to respond to the auditors when asked if they are familiar with Sheppard's ESOHMS, and should be able to either produce this card, or state the primary points of our policy. 

The policy is also available on Sheppard's public web site and is posted on the Installation Comprehensive Environmental Data system along with all other environmental information. Once on the ICED site, the policy is located in the "ESOHMS" folder. 

"Base members should approach ESOHCAMP with the attitude of cooperation and openness," said Mark Mc Burnett, 82nd CES environmental flight chief. "The positive actions taken now can ensure a successful ESOHCAMP evaluation by identifying deficiencies before they become compliance problems with regulators. Protecting the environment for future generations is the ultimate goal and we should look at it as business as usual." 

If you have questions concerning the upcoming ESOHCAMP, Mr. Fowler may be reached at 676-2001.