DVIDS – News – Building a culture of safety: The St. Paul District hosts a safety workshop

The St. Paul District hosted a three-day workshop for 24 of its collateral duty safety officers, or CDSOs, Feb. 25-27. Employees who attended come from various disciplines but all share one common designation, safety officers for their respective duty stations. While attendees were primarily from the operations division, engineering and construction division also added to the training this year expanding the program.

“The overall objective is updating our cadre of collateral duty safety officers on new guidance and directives from division and headquarters, provide training and facilitating interaction on the various topics covered over three days,” said Jeff Kirkey, safety and occupational health chief. The first day focused on training and updates, the second day expanded knowledge with new learning opportunities and then the third day featured hands-on exercises.

The three-day course is a significant investment that shows support from the supervisors. “Most districts have these programs, but not to the extent that we do it. Three days is a huge commitment,” Kirkey said. Leadership values this training and purposely encourages the three-day length to build comradery between CDSOs. “The program can often leave CDSOs feeling isolated while performing their duties at their respective field sites. This training helps to reinforce that safety officers are not alone, and resources are always available whenever needed,” said Aaron Pieplow, operations division safety specialist. He added that the workshop had a high level of senior leader engagement including the district commander, operations chief and deputy of operations and chief of construction.

The position

The collateral duty position, not to exceed 20% of their duties, identifies safety concerns and serves as the first line resource to mitigate unsafe work conditions.

“The site supervisor is ultimately responsible for the site, but they don’t have to do everything on their own,” said Kirkey. “CDSOs are there to support the site supervisor and help share the burden of responsibility for site safety. They are acting as an extension of the site supervisor in a safety capacity.”

Aaron Pieplow said there’s been a shift in the district over the last several years when it comes to safety, he said. “The St. Paul District safety team has been purposeful with how safety is addressed across the district to help improve the culture of safety. CDSOs are on the front lines shaping the district safety culture. The safety team preaches that it’s not a ’gotcha game’ when hazards are identified, it’s a teaching and learning opportunity. If a safety officer finds a concern, they are taught it’s not enough to just point it out and walk away, they need to be part of the solution. Never leave a safety mine for someone else to step on!”

Safety management system Building a culture of safety is one of the key components of the Corps of Engineers Safety and Occupational Health Management System, or CESOHMS.

“CESHOMS isn’t a project or program, it’s a safety culture. Our safety officers are engaged and facilitating and that is huge. We can’t do it with the few of us throughout the district that are called ‘safety,’” said Kirkey.

The collateral duty safety officer program was around long before CESOHMS was implemented and plays a vital role in championing key elements of CESOHMS and site-specific safety objectives. The St. Paul District is well ahead of the 2030 goal set for all Army commands and organizations. Since 2021, the district has been navigating CESOHMS through various stages of maturity: documentation, implementation and execution, and sustainment and continuous improvement.

CESOHMS, is a methodology required by regulation and supported by USACE leadership to fully integrate safety and occupational health functions into all USACE business operations, to ensure risk is managed properly at the correct level resulting in reduced injuries and illnesses of our employees and contractors, while enhancing USACE ability to complete our mission on-time, within budget and at a quality expected by customers. It’s basically the report card for safety throughout USACE.

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