KINGSLEY FIELD, Ore. -- New safety stands help keep Kingsley Field's maintainers safer from falls than in the past. With an investment of fewer than 160-thousand dollars these new stands surround an F-15 aircraft and make it virtually impossible to fall from the airframe to the ground more than 10-feet below.
According the Master Sgt. Mark Draper, the phase section supervisor, these stands were purchased as a response to new safety standards outlined in Air Force Instruction regulations. "The AFI says, 'Passive fall protection shall be provided whenever workers can fall four feet or more,'" added Draper.
In the past maintainers used existing floor stands which required frequent moves from position to position as work moved around the aircraft.
"We didn't have enough stands to go around and so we'd scrounge one up and have to move it constantly," said Draper. "Everyone likes these new stands because they surround the aircraft and provide four access points, rather than just one--they definitely save us time as we work to get aircraft back in the air."
As the number of aircraft grows toward a total assigned number of 32, the workload on Kingsley's maintainers increase proportionately. An investment into these safety stands helps mitigate one area of lost time and energy, said Draper.