McConnell Stands Down for Safety

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Thornbury
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  The 22nd Air Refueling Wing participated in the safety-down day to educate Airmen on how to prevent mishaps, Jan. 6.

All of McConnell's active duty squadrons had safety briefings via presentations or a web conference on Defense Connect Online, throughout the day.

"After being gone for the holiday season our minds tend to fall back to the holidays and not at work," said Robert D. Clapp, 22nd ARW ground safety manager.  "This is a time to take a deep breath, step back and reground ourselves."

Accidents can be caused through laziness, lack of attention and poor training.

"It is not a maintenance issue, it is not a logistics readiness squadron issue, it's a people problem," said Staff Sgt. KC Ratekin, director of staff safety manager.

Sometimes bad habits can be brought home from overseas.

"Our mindset downrange tends to be more risky and we accept more levels of risk than we would during peacetime or day-to-day operations here in the United States," said Clapp. "We are no longer downrange, just because we did it one way downrange doesn't mean it is the safest way."

The safety-down day covered topics from winter preparations to resiliency.

"Let's take our time, do it right, follow the book and not get into a hurry so we can come back the next day to continue the mission," said Clapp.

To succeed in "refueling the fight," McConnell Airmen need to push forward, but with as few risks as possible to ensure they do not hurt people or bend metal.