Dryden kicked off its Make Dryden Safer (MDS) Days Program by showcasing key holiday safety tips, announcing its upcoming event schedule and initiating registration during the Dec. 11 All-Hands Holiday Event.
The 2002 Make Dryden Safer Days are scheduled for Jan. 15-17 and will feature the traditional safety stand down of projects and activities as well as a new format, new all-hands event activities and various new venues, MDS event organizers said. The new structure and content are a direct result of the ideas Team Dryden contributed during a recent outreach campaign conducted by members of the Make Dryden Safer Committee.
"We're excited about this year's MDS Days," said Tom McMullen - the MDS Days chairperson and chief of Dryden's Structural Fabrication Branch (Code OR) - referring to the MDS Committee. "Employees from all over Dryden gave us input on what they wanted to see at the next MDS Days. If you read the pamphlet we handed out you'll notice that the inputs all of you sent in really helped us structure the events."
The pamphlet, entitled 'MDS Kickoff,' featured a full schedule of MDS Days events, training course descriptions and a refresher training registration form.
"The events begin on Tuesday the 15th as an all-hands, all-day event," elaborated McMullen. "Wednesday and Thursday feature duplicate all-hands training sessions in parallel with refresher training. If you do not need to attend refresher training, you can finish most of the event in two days by attending the first and second days' all-hands events."
The all-day, all-hands events were especially designed to facilitate everyone's participation by using available technology and capabilities to feature a primary 'live' session of each all-hands event and then simulcast it via Dryden TV to satellite locations across the Center. The satellite locations will have supervisors and MDSD Committee members on hand to help facilitate the simulcast event.
Since Dryden launched its Make Dryden Safer (MDS) program nearly one year ago safety awareness and safety ownership have risen throughout the Center, noted Center Director Kevin Petersen during the Dec. 11 kickoff.
"Through [volunteer MDS program manager] Dan Crowley's leadership and dedication, [we] have raised workplace safety awareness across the Center and renewed the safety attitude at Dryden," Petersen pointed out. "In fact, many people are realizing that safety is everyone's responsibility - that it's not any one group's responsibility, or just the safety department's responsibility."
"In addition, many employees have actively demonstrated their commitment to safety through involvement and action," added Petersen. "We have several employee safety groups looking at all aspects of safety at Dryden ... This work shows a caring attitude and commitment to making life better for all of us whether here or at home because what we learn about safety at work carries through to safety at home."
Despite the strides of the new MDS Program in fostering ownership for safety, Dryden's 2001 safety record leaves room for improvement, agreed Petersen and McMullen.
"Dryden has hit a safety record plateau and [MDS'] desire is to help us all evaluate why we do things the way we do," said McMullen who hopes the January events will facilitate the progress of safety ownership already taking place among many key groups and help promote similar strides across the rest of the Center.
Petersen elaborated on Dryden's safety record by noting that Dryden had 22 9-1-1 calls during 2001 - 15 of which required further medical attention in town - and that over 60 members of Team Dryden suffered injuries during the year. Although most of these injuries were considered minor, others were more serious - including three lost time accidents. A lost time accident occurs when the person is so seriously injured that they cannot come to work the next day. According to Petersen, that statistic translates into one in 20 members of Team Dryden being injured - or over one injury per week. Petersen stressed the fact that the impact of these injuries is not only felt by the individual, but also by their coworkers and their families.
"We're all trying to make Dryden a safer place to work and the Make Dryden Safer Days scheduled for Jan. 15-17 can help us do just that," concluded McMullen.
