How to Fill Out AF Form 55: Entries, Storage, and PCS Transfer

To fill out AF Form 55, the supervisor completes the identification block at the top of the form (the employee’s identifying data, job, and workplace hazards), then logs each safety briefing and training session underneath with the employee’s name, the date of training, and the trainer’s signature. The same form carries initial briefings and every recurring session that follows, so it becomes the running safety and health training record for that employee.

Where to Get the Current Form

Download the current version from the Air Force e-Publishing website at e-publishing.af.mil and search the product index for “AF Form 55” or “DAF Form 55.”¹ Pull it fresh rather than reusing a locally saved copy; outdated versions create compliance problems during inspections. The form comes as a fillable PDF, so you can complete it on a secure workstation or print it and fill it in by hand.

Completing the Identification Block

The supervisor fills in the top portion before any training entries are recorded. These fields establish who the employee is, what they do, and what hazards their work involves.

Boxes 1 through 3: Employee’s name, Social Security Number (or last four, per local policy), and organization or workplace identifier.
Boxes 4 and 5: Occupation series and duty title. Use the official title your organization recognizes and describe the specific work the employee performs.
Box 6: Every hazard associated with the employee’s job tasks or work area. Include both routine and severe hazards, and note how likely the employee is to encounter each one. This box should line up with the Job Hazard Analysis your shop already has on file.²
Box 7: Any required occupational health examinations for the duties. Leave blank if none apply.

Box 6 deserves extra care. Safety inspectors compare what you listed there against the Bioenvironmental Engineering survey for your shop, and a chemical exposure or noise hazard that appears on the survey but not on the form shows up as a finding.

Logging Each Training Entry

Below the identification fields, the form has a checklist area for baseline safety briefing items and a training log where each completed session is recorded. As you brief each checklist item during the initial briefing, check the corresponding box and have the employee acknowledge it.

Every entry in the training log requires three pieces of information, per DAFMAN 91-203:²

Name of the employee trained.
Date of the training.
Signature of the person who conducted the training, or the signature of the employer.

Both initial and recurring sessions go on the same form. Recurring safety training must occur at least annually.³ Personnel trained as competent or authorized persons for specific programs like lockout/tagout must be retrained at least every two years, with annual refresher training in between.

Write specific descriptions. An entry that just says “safety training” gives an inspector nothing to verify. Name the topic, the equipment, or the process the session covered.

Topics That Require Their Own Signed Entry

Some topics are treated as high-risk and need individual signature lines on the form. DAFI 91-202 calls these out specifically:⁴

Hazard Communication (HAZCOM), for anyone who handles or could be exposed to hazardous chemicals. Training covers Safety Data Sheets, container labeling, and protective measures, and is required upon initial assignment and again whenever a new chemical or hazard enters the work area.⁵
Lockout/tagout, for anyone who services or maintains equipment where unexpected energization could cause injury.
Respirator training, covering proper fit, use, and maintenance of respiratory protection equipment.
Powered industrial trucks, for forklift and similar vehicle operators.
Fall protection, for personnel working at heights where fall hazards exist.
Confined space entry, for anyone entering permit-required confined spaces.
Radiation and laser safety, for personnel working with ionizing radiation sources or laser systems.

Fire prevention is another mandatory area. Supervisors must establish a fire prevention training program through the Job Safety Training Outline so employees understand fire prevention and protection responsibilities, including portable fire extinguisher use and evacuation procedures.² Job-specific hazards identified in Bioenvironmental Engineering surveys also need their own documented line item on the form when the corresponding training is delivered.

AF Form 55 is not the only acceptable medium. DAFMAN 91-203 allows DAF Form 623 (Individual Training Record Folder) or an approved computer-automated system in its place.² Whatever the medium, the same three data points apply: employee name, training date, and trainer signature.

Storing the Record and Tracking Renewals

The completed AF Form 55 is typically kept in the Supervisor’s Safety Study binder or a dedicated workplace safety folder. Digital storage on a secure network or a physical hard copy both work, but signatures must remain legible and verifiable throughout the employee’s time in the unit. When a safety inspector arrives, the form is one of the first things they ask to see, so it needs to be accessible on short notice.

Use the dates already on the form to stay ahead of recurring training. A simple spreadsheet or calendar reminder tied to each employee’s annual training date prevents the most common finding of all: a lapsed recurring topic with no documentation of renewal.

What Happens at PCS or Reassignment

When an employee transfers to a new unit or receives a Permanent Change of Station, the AF Form 55 goes with them. The departing member hand-carries the form to their next assignment. The form is a legal record of the employee’s training history and cannot be destroyed, shredded, or discarded.⁶

If the gaining supervisor starts a new AF Form 55 for the employee, the old one is attached to the new one and both are maintained together. That continuity lets a safety inspector at the new unit verify prior training rather than starting the record from scratch.

Mistakes That Cause Inspection Findings

The most frequent problems inspectors find with AF Form 55 records are straightforward once you know what they look like:

Missing or expired recurring training. If the last HAZCOM entry is 14 months old, that is a finding.
No trainer signature. An entry with a date and topic but no signature does not count as documented training under DAFMAN 91-203.²
Hazards in Box 6 that do not match the shop survey. A hazard identified by Bioenvironmental Engineering but absent from the form raises questions about whether the employee was trained on it.
Vague training descriptions that name no specific topic, equipment, or process.
Destroyed or missing records for transferred personnel. Throwing away an old AF Form 55 when creating a new one violates the requirement to attach and maintain both records together.⁶

None of these are hard to prevent. Complete every field at the time of training, sign the entry the same day, and keep the form where anyone in the shop can find it.

1
Department of the Air Force E-Publishing. Department of the Air Force E-Publishing – Product Index
2
Department of the Air Force. DAFMAN 91-203 – Occupational Safety, Fire, and Health Standards
3
Department of the Air Force. DAFMAN 91-203 – Air Force Occupational Safety, Fire, and Health Standards
4
Department of the Air Force. DAFI 91-202
5
Department of the Air Force e-Publishing. Air Force Instruction 90-821 – Hazard Communication (HAZCOM) Program
6
Tinker Air Force Base. Supervisor Safety Surveillance Program