Summary: Conditions at the Air Logistics Center in San Antonio, Texas, raise doubts about whether the safety program there has received enough emphasis. Although the Center has taken several steps to overcome maintenance safety and training shortcomings, problems remain. Data on accidents and injuries from the Center show that mishap rates there have been on the rise during the past few years and are greater than Air Force-wide rates. Additionally, safety deficiencies that investigators have spotted recently are similar to major shortcomings linked to past accidents at the Center. Continued corrective and preventative safety improvements are warranted. Because of the way in which lost workday data are collected at San Antonio, mishap data there do not reflect all instances when workers are away from their jobs due to accidents or injuries. Neither Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) nor Air Force guidance is clear on how such data should be collected. As a result, reported statistics omit cases in which workers cannot do their regular jobs and are instead assigned other work, a situation that not only overstates safety conditions at the centers but also reduces the likelihood of an OSHA inspection.
