USA Earns NASA’s Super Nova Award for Safety

USA was presented the prestigious Super Nova Safety Award at the NASA Contractor Safety Forum on June 26. This is the highest safety award given to contractors at the Johnson Space Center.

The award is designed to promote excellence in contractor operations by recognizing outstanding efforts to reduce mishaps and hazards through effective safety programs, integrating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) principles and fostering a sound safety culture throughout JSC.

“We are proud to be selected for this award,” said Chuck Gibson, Manager of Environmental Safety and Health. “This reinforces our efforts to ensure that our operations measure up to the highest safety standards.”

Gibson noted that the award nomination pointed to excellence in several areas, including performance and innovative safety and health practices.

“ USA received high marks for our Lean Six Sigma project on the Safety Inspection Closed Loop System,” he said.

This safety inspection process is designed to function as an efficient closed-loop system to facilitate timely resolution and closure of safety discrepancies.

The safety inspection completion rate for managers increased from 41 percent to 93 percent. Additionally, the process cycle time to close a discrepancy decreased to 13 days from the previous 64.

“Another program that earned praise was our eEARS system that will aid USA in accounting for and communicating with employees during a mass evacuation,” Gibson said.

Last year USA developed and deployed the Employee Emergency Accountability Reporting System (eEARS). In the event of an evacuation due to a hurricane or other emergency, employees can report in, provide a contact telephone number and hear updated information.

Additionally, the Odyssey program was cited for emphasizing the importance of situational awareness and tracking how USA organizations rate in slips, trips, falls, struck by and against incidents.

“We believe this initiative has helped heighten awareness of these issues,” Gibson said. “As a result, slips, trips, falls, struck by and against mishaps have been reduced.”

USA ’s Taking Charge of Safety Program, Risk Associated Trouble Spots (RATS) and VPP activities were listed with other initiatives as justification for the award.

“Safety is such a high priority with USA; we have a multifaceted approach to provide a safe environment for our employees and to ensure flight safety,” Gibson said. “It is gratifying when we are recognized for these efforts.”

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