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Labor Day weekend prime time for mishaps

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Connie L. Bias
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  You focus at work. You focus at the gym. You focus while you're studying for promotion, and you pretend to focus during Monday's staff meetings. (Gotcha!)

The weekends are your time to relax, lose a little focus and forget some of the rules.

That, unfortunately, is the very mistake that leads to mishap and injury, especially during four-day holidays like the one right around the corner.

"The Labor Day weekend is crucial because the potential for people to go out, have fun and let their hair down is immense," said Mark Rupert, 92nd Air Refueling Wing ground safety manager. "People really need to use a little personal risk management."

While that may sound like a big phrase, personal risk management is actually a very simple concept, said Mr. Rupert.

"As individuals we exercise risk management every day; crossing the street at an intersection is an act of risk management," he said. "We've boiled down risk management to the acronym ACT: assess the situation, consider your options and take action."

Easy, or so it would seem. In fact, at Fairchild alone, 11 Class C mishaps have already occurred during the 101 Critical Days of Summer this year; by comparison, the base had only three Class C mishaps in the same time period last year. Class C mishaps are injury mishaps that involve more than one duty day or more away from work. Mr. Rupert pointed out that a lot of those mishaps result from sports and recreation activities.

"It's easy to get caught up in the moment. We're out playing softball or mountain biking, having a great time, and we just forge ahead," Mr. Rupert said. "But it's important to make that conscious effort to look around and take a moment to scope out the situation. You've heard people say, 'It only takes a second,' and that's really all it takes to get yourself in trouble."

Over the Labor Day weekend, anyone planning a trip should also take a few precautions.

"I'm all for impromptu trips. You may wake up Friday morning and decide to go to Seattle for the weekend," said Mr. Rupert. "Take a moment and plan things out. Is the car ready to go? Have I checked the tire pressure? What's the weather like? Just run through a mental checklist."

Basically, be aware of your surroundings and stay focused this weekend, he said, so all of Fairchild is back at work, safe and sound, next week.