GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- The 434th Air Refueling Wing’s mission is to provide air refueling and combat ready forces, but another mission that goes hand-to-hand with that is safety.
Helping to foster a safe work environment, Grissom hosted a life safety code essential course here, Nov. 7.
The course, developed and taught by the National Fire Protection Association was designed to teach life safety code standards to protect people based on building construction, protection, and occupancy features that minimize the effects of fire and related hazards.
“This was the first time the course had been offered at Grissom,” said Alfredo Aguilar, 434th ARW occupational safety manager. “The course broke down the life safety code which helps ensure facilities are up to standards keeping people safe in the event of an emergency.”
People from around the base graduated from the course including safety representatives, building custodians, engineers, security forces and building managers.
“The course is useful to a broad range of individuals,” said Aguilar. “We had people from multiple backgrounds attend the course because we felt it benefited more than just the base safety personnel.”
One such area was the 434th Security Forces Squadron. The base’s security forces operate 24-7 to provide force protection to the installation making the course that much more valuable to them.
“This course really helped me understand the life safety portion of our infrastructure and that helps because we can incorporate that knowledge with our security measures,” said Adam Soultz, 434th SFS antiterrorism program manager. “It also gave us the basic knowledge and code requirements when working with our civil engineers for future projects.”
Over the last two years, more than $20 million has been granted annually for infrastructure sustainment, repairs and maintenance and approximately the same amount has been requested for fiscal year 2020.
With constant upgrades to the base, code changes can affect how buildings are built or remodeled.
“The course gave us updated code descriptions that will help us with future planning,” said Bryan Jaworski, 434th Civil Engineer Squadron design chief who also attended the course. “The new codes will be incorporated into our infrastructure as we continue to expand and maintain the base.”
The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. The Reserve Citizen Airmen from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.
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