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The Flagship | www.flagshipnews.com | Section 1 | Thursday, May 4, 2023
DOD SOH, IH, EEM professionals learn the latest in safety, environmental protection trends By Stephanie Slater Naval Safety Command
Safety and occupational health (SOH), industrial hygiene (IH), and environmental and emergency management (EEM) professionals from across the Department of Defense (DOD) learned the latest in safety, occupational health and environmental protection trends at the annual Joint Safety and Environmental Professional Development Symposium (PDS) April 17-21, 2023. In its 31st year, the PDS is a free professional development opportunity hosted by the Naval Safety and Environmental Training Center (NAVSAFENVTRACEN) in a joint setting to share innovative ideas, trends and information in safety and occupational health, environmental protection and industrial hygiene. Hundreds of education sessions were punctuated by DOD keynote speakers throughout the week, to include Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness Shawn
Skelly, who acknowledged the attendees for their collective representation of DOD’s safety expertise. “You each have a role in the implementation of the department’s strategic plan,” Skelly said. “It’s your wisdom and experience; it’s your technical voices that enable senior leaders to highlight the importance of incorporating safety and occupational health risk management processes to get after every decision that has the potential to impact the safety and occupational health of the total force.” This symposium increases the value and relevancy of our attendees’ professional disciplines, said Naval Safety Command (NAVSAFECOM) Commander, Rear Adm. Christopher M. Engdahl. “Attendees’ inputs to DOD operations are critical to mission success and this symposium is a vehicle to provide training that is both ready, relevant and industry-aligned.” More than 2,700 participants representing all DOD branches, as well as multiple
federal and international agencies and students pursuing classwork in related fields, attended 100-plus education sessions. Participants hailed from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 20 time zones and 27 countries. “Each year we continue to globally expand with more attendees and topics presented by our government, industry and academic partners,” said NAVSAFENVTRACEN Commanding Officer Cmdr. Charles Wilhite. “When we began offering this online in 2013, we only had roughly half the attendance and course offerings we have now. But each year the symposium grows and the flame of attendee and presenter interest is in no danger of getting extinguished.” Session presenters represent backgrounds in safety, environmental, occupational health, public health, industrial hygiene, radiation health and occupational medicine. Educational sessions included general safety, operational safety, hazard management, occupational safety and health,
industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, environmental protection, ethics, teleworking and other trending topics. Participants can access recordings of most sessions for further reinforcement and reflection. This year’s symposium also featured claimant meetings discussing respective safety initiatives for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, and U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center. Meetings and sessions provide participants with attendance certificates to document CEUs earned. Safety and occupational health professionals collectively earned 1,017 hours of continuing education units (CEU). For those interested in participating or presenting during next year’s PDS April 22-26, 2024, email the symposium’s planning committee at NAVSAFENVTRACEN_ JOINT_PDS@navy.mil.
Naval Academy, NSA Annapolis release installation resiliency plan From Navy.mil ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) and Naval Support Activity Annapolis (NSAA) released a jointly developed installation resiliency plan, associated project portfolio, and phased execution plan, April 27, 2023. Completed in 2022 and in alignment with the Secretary of the Navy’s priorities, this plan provides an integrated adaptation framework, project portfolio, and year-toyear execution strategy that will mitigate the combined effects of land subsidence, sea level rise, ground-water change, coastal flooding/storm surge and inadequate stormwater management at the Naval Academy to the year 2100. “Sea level rise and land subsidence are increasingly impacting operations at the Naval Academy,” said Vice Adm. Sean Buck, the Naval Academy’s 63rd superintendent. “The bottom line is that we are dealing with increasing amounts of water on the Yard every year and the projections show that the
effects of climate change are an existential threat to the Naval Academy.” The combined effects of sea level rise, coastal flooding (e.g., nuisance and storm surge), groundwater inundation, land subsidence, and surface water flooding from extreme weather events will continue to intensify, and a proactive, integrated adaptation strategy is warranted to address these threats as directed by the Department of the Navy Climate Action 2030 strategy. The plan uses most recent sea level rise projections, as recommended by the USNA Sea Level Rise Advisory Council (SLRAC) and the DoD Regional Sea Level database. It recommends a variety of complementary adaptation and resilience projects that will work together to provide protection of the campus. “The study provides information and a project portfolio that needs to be accomplished over the next forty-plus years,” said Navy Capt. Tom McLemore, NSAA public works officer. “We must now balance the information from the study with condi-
tions of the existing infrastructure to create a program of projects that balances the mission of the Academy, funding availability, and the risks associated with rising seas.” Projects are requirements-based and phased over time, beginning in 2023 and continuing through 2065, resulting in a short-term, mid-term and long-term portfolio of projects. Actual execution of the plan will depend on available funding. One of the first major projects of the plan, raising seawalls in the vicinity of Farragut Field and Santee Basin, was funded this year and construction efforts are underway. “The expertise of our faculty and staff on the Sea Level Rise Advisory Council has been a key factor in our ability to build a plan that is consistent with scientifically accepted science in this field as well as with our daily operations and mission requirements,” said Naval Academy Deputy for Facilities and Construction Sara Phillips. In addition to the work done building the plan, solutions continue to be refined through faculty-led midshipman research
projects. “There are many opportunities to create resilience at the Academy and we are invested in finding the most efficient and effective ways to do that as we move into the realities of climate change and its impacts here in Annapolis,” Phillips said. The resilience plan, which includes an integrated adaptation framework, project portfolio, and phased execution plan, as well as an executive summary, can be found on the Naval Academy website: Executive Summary NSAA / USNA Military Installation Resiliency Plan The Department’s Climate Action 2030 strategy document can be found at: Department of the Navy Climate Action 2030 For more information about the Naval Academy, please see www.usna.edu or the academy’s Facebook page.
Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic (CNRMA): Rear Adm Christopher“Scotty”Gray
Editorial Staff
Military Editor | MC1 Maddelin Hamm 757-322-2853 | maddelin.v.hamm.mil@us.navy.mil Graphic Designer | Teresa Walter teresa.walter@virginiamedia.com
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Ninoshka Basantes Travis Kuykendall Kaitlyn Hewett MC3 Jordan Grimes 757-322-2853 | news@flagshipnews.com
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