NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, Md. – Working to keep more than 18,000 people across eight Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs) safe is a daunting task, but a director at the Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC) is doing just that.

The Navy League and acting Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Sean J. Stackley recognized Lisa Fallon, COMFRC Safety and Regulatory Compliance Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) director, with the Secretary Gordon R. England Safety Award during its annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition April 5 at National Harbor, Maryland. Fallon was lauded for her efforts to recognize and abate safety hazards across the COMFRC enterprise, reducing lost workdays, avoiding costs and increasing readiness.

“The Navy’s safety program does not happen overnight,” Stackley said. “It takes dogged effort, and that saves lives.”

When Fallon assumed her leadership role  with the COMFRC OHS in July 2013, the organization’s total case incident rate (TCIR) and days away restricted duty or transfer (DART) rates were above the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) rates for the aviation maintenance industry at all eight FRCs.

Fallon said she had a mandate to standardize and improve safety across the FRC enterprise.

“I was the first OSH lead, and [former COMFRC Deputy Commander] Dennis West requested I focus on consistent implementation of the program across all sites,” Fallon said. “I drafted, in coordination with the site safety directors, a number of COMFRC safety instructions to create corporate policies for all sites to follow.” Fallon and her team developed and implemented a compliance strategic vision for the FRCs and has reduced both the TCIR and DART rates significantly, which are now below BLS averages.

“Ms. Fallon has consistently and effectively promoted the ‘One Team’ spirit and philosophy and works tirelessly to break down barriers to effective cooperation between sites and competencies,” wrote Rear Adm. Michael Zarkowski, COMFRC commander, in the award nomination packet. “Throughout her career, she has demonstrated care for workplace safety and has been a leader in facilitating a continuous improvement to establish a world-class safety culture in our FRCs. Her ‘people focus’ is shown in her mentoring efforts, opened to input from all employees and concern for feedback to the workforce. “

Part of Fallon’s success is her use of emerging technology, increasing awareness of ergonomics and establishing COMFRC’s first “near miss” policy.

Before Fallon was hired as COMFRC’s first OSH lead, industrial ergonomic injuries comprised nearly 35 percent of COMFRC’s mishap rate. Since then, Fallon fostered a spirit of collaboration. Using structured problem-solving techniques, she reduced risk factors and solved issues that crossed organizational boundaries.

“A ‘near miss’ is an incident where sheer chance prevented an injury,” Fallon said. “For example, a tool snaps and an artisan is almost hit with the flying bit, or someone nearly trips on a cord across the floor or on an uneven stair tread, or someone almost gets hit by a car crossing the street. All these things should be reported as near misses, so safety professionals can review the circumstances surrounding them to determine if something can be done to eliminate a hazard and prevent the next person from actually getting hurt.”

Since fiscal year (FY) 2014, Fallon has led an aggressive program to reduce hazards at the FRCs. That first year, she helped abate nearly 360 hazards. In FY 2015, COMFRC launched its first Safety Management System (SMS). The SMS is a compilation of both the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 registration process and portions of an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program set in place initially at FRC East and coordinating implementation of the program across all sites in the command.

Shortly afterward, a cultural shift occurred, and hazard abatement increased by nearly 50 percent. Through continued process improvement, education and awareness, more than 2,100 hazards have been identified and abated.

“Our biggest accomplishment with respect to the OSH Program is developing the COMFRC SMS,” Fallon said. “The system is leadership driven with employee involvement, creating a culture of everyone participating in the SMS to make our work sites the safest they can be.”

Zarkowski agreed the SMS is a key component of FRC safety management.

“Ms. Fallon championed a working group that engaged the senior safety leadership of all the FRCs and provided them with both vision and plans for an SMS of the future, a major step in achieving a world class safety culture,” he wrote.

But Fallon’s job isn’t done yet.

“The OSH Program will continue to track progress towards implementation of the SMS, especially at our Level 2 sites,” she said. “We’ll continue to work special interest efforts, like a review of confined space programs, fall protection systems and new initiatives like implementation of ergonomics program studies on the aircraft lines, to improve artisan comfort and increase productivity while reducing Federal Employee Compensation Act costs.” 

The Secretary Gordon R. England Safety Award provides special recognition to individuals, units or organizations that, through their example, advance a culture of safety within the Navy. The purpose of the awards is to further stimulate safety ideas, suggestions, programs and other actions that will reduce mishaps and fatalities.

England is only the second person to hold the post of SECNAV twice and the first to serve back-to-back terms, both during the tenure of former President George W. Bush.