Yokota Air Base, Japan -- Members of the 374th Airlift Wing safety office held the third annual Safety and Readiness Festival to close out safety week at Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 10, 2017.
The festival held an array of demonstrations and booths to encourage base residents and community members to apply risk management in their daily lives and provide information to assist them.
“This event is about raising awareness and helping others become safer in their daily lives,” said Lt. Col. Robert Cureton, 374 AW Safety chief. “We hope that the festival will safely enhance people’s process of doing tasks and get them talking about what they learned and gained from our events to help spread the word about being safe.”
The demonstrations consisted of an earthquake simulator, smoke house, seatbelt demonstrations, fire fighter demonstrations, Japan Self-Defense Force Yosakoi Dance performance, Tokyo Metro police motorcycle demo and a traffic safety demonstration team performed.
“There are a multitude of things that vary from daily life in the states and here in Japan,” said Masaharu Kawagishi, 374 AW/SE deputy occupational safety manager. “For example, there are a lot of people who ride bicycles and scooters in Japan and Americans may not be familiar with the traffic conditions. This event will help Yokota personnel with driving more safely.”
Emergency readiness and preparedness booths came from the Red Cross, Medical Group, Army Air Force Exchange Services, DECA, USO and Wing Planning.
“The readiness side has brought practicality into what we are doing here,” Cureton said. “As we show people what it’s like being in an earthquake or traffic accident, the readiness section talked about things such as preparedness kits in case of emergencies.”
The event allowed Yokota personnel to have fun while learning how to safely handle situations that could take place in their daily lives.
“Everyone makes risk decisions every day from the moment they wake up until they go to sleep,” Cureton said. “We hope people become more proactive with their safety after this event to help them become more prepared and know how to safely go through situations in their daily lives while knowing as many safety precautions as possible.”
To learn more about safety precautions in your daily life contact the base safety office at 315-225-7233.