NEW MEXICO—More than 130 safety and fire personnel from across the agency gathered in person (and virtually) at the Albuquerque Service Center earlier this month to experience practical training and hear from senior leaders on issues involving risk management in today's ever-changing environment—all part of the 2023 Forest Service All Safety Training.

The event was planned, coordinated and executed by the Forest Service Office of Safety and Occupational Health in Washington, D.C., with presenters from across the agency.

“It’s been a long time since this community has been able to get together and see our teammates face to face and we’ve missed that. I’ve been with the agency for 10 months and had never met most of this group until this event. It was great to put faces with names,” said Deborah Gonzales, National Safety program manager at the Washington Office. “I believe the training and interacting with fellow safety and fire professionals will pay dividends for this organization long after this event. We hope to make this a reoccurring event.”

Training participants completed classroom and break out group exercises covering a variety of topics such as accident investigation, metareview, emergency management, stress, first aid and the agency's new check in and out application, commonly called CIAO, which will allow field-going employees to check in and out for safety purposes.

"ASC was an ideal location for safety and fire professionals to gather together and obtain training on a wide variety of topics that are performed at their organizations," Gonzales said. "There was a blend of job specialties present at the event; we had great group dialogue and I hope that everyone learned something of value for their organization."

In addition to practical exercises, attendees also interacted with the senior Forest Service safety leaders during daily keynote addresses. Monte Ulmer, director of safety and health, added, “This event provided an opportunity for me, as the new director, to meet and engage with the safety managers across the Forest Service, continue to enhance the safety culture in the Forest Service and build a bridge between safety managers and risk management officers.”

Presentation recordings and copies of the training slides are available here: World of Safety (OSOH) - All Safety Training - ASC 2023 - All Documents (internal link).