Northwest Region Captures Three CNO Safety Awards

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Brown, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West, Det. Northwest

SILVERDALE, Wash. - (NNS) -- Two commands and a Sailor within Navy Region Northwest won awards during the 2012 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Shore Safety Awards April 3 for significant contributions to Navy safety and occupational health.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest won the small industrial category while Naval Magazine Indian Island (NMII) was the runner up. The individual award for military enlisted was awarded to Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class James Vasileff, assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Northwest.

Commands excelled in directly supporting the Secretary of Defense's 75% mishap reduction goal by reducing mishap trends and costs, and in demonstrating strong safety leadership.

"I'm very proud of our folks' continued commitment to their personal safety and the safety of their co-workers." said Capt. Chris LaPlatney, commanding officer, NAVFAC Northwest.

NAVFAC Northwest has seen dramatic drops in its civilian mishap trends. The Employee Driven Safety Committee involvement, safety training, operational risk management - identifying, reporting, and correcting hazards, documenting and reviewing high risk activities, supervisory and professional safety oversight has yielded significant declines in the civilian safety metrics.

"We are very committed to safety at NAVFAC," said Mark Hurst, safety manager, NAVFAC Northwest. "From the top of the command down to the bottom, everyone put forth great effort in keeping the workplace safe for each other."

This is the second straight year NAVFAC Northwest has won the CNO Safety award.

"It just shows that we have built safety into our workplace culture here at NAVFAC," said Hurst. "We wouldn't be where we are today without Capt. LaPlatney.

"[LaPlatney] really takes every incident personally and immediately wants to know how or why it happened so we can get it fixed and never have it happen again," said Hurst. "That is why we are so strong in our safety culture. We do not repeat mistakes from the past."

Coming in second place in the Small Industrial award category was NMII.

"Safety is integral to our mission," said Cmdr. Michael Yesunas, commanding officer, NMII. "The hardworking professionals on Indian Island make safety their top priority every single day, so it is an honor to be recognized as a runner-up at the Chief of Naval Operations level for our safety program. We will continue to strive to get even better, so maybe we will win next year."

Winning the individual CNO Safety award for military enlisted personnel was Vasileff.

"I am honored to receive this award," said Vasileff. "Safety is a very important to us. I feel that if we keep the individuals safe we will be able to complete our mission effectively and in a timely manner."