A safety day success

  • Published
  • By AIrman 1st Class Piara Macay
  • 509th Contracting Squadron
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Team Whiteman held a mandatory safety day April 16. Instead of keeping with the standard, Airmen from the 509th Contracting Squadron decided to take the typical safety day briefing to a new level.

With the leadership of Senior Airman Jerald Kennedy, 509th CONS Airmen developed the Safety Day Amazing Race, 509th CONS version.

Why have a competition? Airman Kennedy's answer was simple. It changes a person's mindset to excitement rather than having dull expectations from the beginning, he said.

"I believe the safety day (amazing race) was effective primarily because the Airmen who were the target audience helped create the format," Maj, Sanjit Singh, 509th CONS commander said. "They weren't just told to sit in a conference room and listen to briefers throughout the day. Instead, they created a program that allowed them to attend all the required safety briefings through a competitive yet safe format."

Since time was short to plan and prepare for the event, each Airman was tasked to help with at least one issue. The 509th Bomb Wing Safety Office provided talking points and background information on the topics to be discussed. Most of the briefers hold key leadership positions in the squadron thus most of them have received training on various safety topics.

According to Airman Kennedy, it was exciting from the very beginning because everyone seemed genuinely excited to be playing and came up with strategies to win.

"I really enjoyed seeing the creative and witty side of my co-workers," added Airman Kennedy.

Each team had to figure out the clues given to them and race with the other teams to get to the location of a briefer who would only sign their "certifications" after discussing topics like suicide prevention, underage drinking, chaplain assistance and summer and high risk activities safety, which also happened to be one of the highlights of the day because it required at least one member of each team to climb the rock wall at Outdoor Recreation.

"The rock wall was a lot of fun, and I think most participants either didn't know the wall was there or have never attempted to climb it," said Airman Kennedy who was with Maj. Singh at that briefing point. Maj. Singh went through the base wall climbing certification class to ensure the safety of each team member climbing the wall.

As teams reached the final location and started tallying the score, everyone had the chance to talk about the funny things that happened and the parts that had the most impact to them. Everyone in the squadron was able to go through all the required safety briefings and have fun at the same time.