and employees of these office buildings, and meeting unique security requirements of Capitol Hill is a significant management challenge. Managing the safety and health risks for the complex as a whole must be balanced with other high priority requirements and our limited funds.

Coupled with these issues, AOC tracks findings and recommendations from multiple sources, including internal inspections, construction and design reviews, Office of Compliance inspections and third-party audits. Existing AOC data systems do not facilitate the tracking and sharing of information as findings progress from design, through construction and operational phases. Improving the agency’s safety information management is a related key challenge.

AOC Initiatives: The safety of Capitol Hill employees, building occupants and visitors remains a top priority. AOC’s philosophy of People First, Safety Always sets the tone for its commitment to ensuring safety within its facilities and on the Capitol grounds. In FY 2014, AOC reduced its injury and illness rate to 2.95 per 100 employees, a four percent decline (similarly, the Lost Time Case Rate decreased to 1.37 per 100, a 29 percent reduction). The six-year trend for these rates is shown in Figure 20. This decline may be attributed to multiple initiatives.

To provide a safe environment, AOC is standardizing and coordinating operational best practices, integrating safety into everything it does. During FY 2014, AOC undertook an initiative that focused on engaging first-line supervisors and employees to conduct work observations and coach one another through “see something, say something” interactions. As a pilot initiative, three jurisdictions participated in the AOC Safety Observation and Reflection Process, a behavior-based safety program that involved over 140 employees, including supervisors and managers.

In addition, AOC fully engaged all major facilities and conducted a comprehensive fire code inspection and audit of fire protection system maintenance records. More than 20 facilities were found to be in significant compliance with operational fire codes and recommendations were entered into a findings database to track future enhancements.

AOC also undertook several training initiatives to reinforce safety, fire, environmental and emergency preparedness. This included expanding hazardous material spill training, developing a related certification process and conducting a multi-jurisdictional emergency exercise for second and third shift staff. The exercise improved awareness of appropriate actions during an emergency and highlighted areas for improvement in communications, training and equipment.

Safety continues to be a top criterion when planning and allocating funds for capital projects. In FY 2015, AOC will continue providing proactive customer support to ensure the safety, health and compliance of AOC operations and projects that include timely and safe access of the Cannon Renewal, Refrigeration Plant Revitalization and Cogeneration projects.

Looking ahead, upcoming safety policy and planning improvements include finalizing and implementing a new policy on Incident Reporting, Investigation and Recordkeeping; developing a Polychlorinated Biphenyl Management Plan that identifies their risks in construction materials and recommended actions; and developing an Ozone Depleting Substance Management Plan.

To integrate safety, fire protections, environmental compliance and emergency preparedness considerations into operations, AOC will develop and implement a SharePoint Incident Investigation Management System reporting tool across the agency and develop and implement a 

SERVE • PRESERVE • INSPIRE

Eric Schmidt

Fire Protection Engineer, AOC Safety, Fire, and Environmental Programs

Eric Schmidt, Fire Protection Engineer, is responsible for developing and managing AOC’s Fire Inspection Program. At the AOC, he has been instrumental in awarding new fire protection support contracts and transitioning work to new contractors to ensure continuity of AOC Fire Marshal operations. Eric never hesitates to drop what he is doing nights and weekends to support emergencies and weekend operations at AOC. Twice this year he responded after hours to emergencies at the U.S. Botanic Garden and Library of Congress.