HANFORD -- The Department of Energy is concerned about an increase in accidents requiring medical attention and other safety-related incidents at the Hanford vitrification plant this year.
"The (vitrification plant) project has recently experienced several reportable and nonreportable events that indicate the construction site safety performance may be in jeopardy," wrote John Eschenberg, DOE manager of the vitrification plant project, in a letter to Bechtel National.
The problems "may have resulted from a fundamental breakdown in work planning, hazards identification and control, and/or a generally poor level of diligence and awareness," Eschenberg wrote.
Bechtel is redoubling its safety efforts to reverse the trend, said Ted Feigenbaum, the new Bechtel project director for the Waste Treatment Plant, or vitrification plant.
The construction project had a series of safety problems in 2004 and again in 2005, but launched efforts then that improved its safety performance. Seeing the plant's rate of safety-related incidents start to rise again has been disappointing, Feigenbaum said.
Most of the recent incidents have been caused by complacency or losing focus on safety, rather than a lack of good safety procedures or correct safety equipment for the plant's 800 construction workers, he said.
In one incident since DOE sent the letter earlier this month, parts of a tower crane and a tall mobile crane touched when one of the crane operators failed to wait for instructions from the ground to proceed, according to Bechtel.
In a case cited in the letter, a worker was using a remote control to move a scissor lift this month when he accidentally moved the lift the wrong way and it ran over his foot, breaking a bone. In another incident last month, a worker was cutting an I-beam and got pinned by one of the cut pieces but was not seriously injured.
Bechtel has stopped work by some groups of workers for short periods after some of the incidents to examine safety problems and refocus on safety.
Long term its strategy is to "get as many eyes" as possible on safety issues, Feigenbaum said.
Managers will be spending more time on the construction site with a safety check-list to observe procedures and talk with workers, he said. The managers will be working with safety professionals.
Representatives of building trades unions are expected to walk the site with supervisors and make recommendations. Bechtel also will be relying on its construction workers as it reinvigorates a program that asks the experienced workers who are most respected by other workers to observe other workers and recommend ways they can work more safely.
Bechtel also plans to bring safety experts from its other construction sites around the world to take a fresh look at safety issues at the vitrification plant.
A program Feigenbaum has used at other job sites will award gift certificates or other prizes to workers observed using safety precautions to provide positive reinforcement for the safety push.
Workers are being encouraged to maintain a mental focus on safety, follow procedures and not to rush, Feigenbaum said.
* Annette Cary: 509-582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com; More Hanford news at
hanfordnews.com.
Similar stories:
Vit plant mixing system raises concerns
Vit plant mixing system raises concerns
LOS ANGELES -- The mixing system planned for the Hanford vitrification plant's high-level radioactive waste could wear out in only a few months rather than last the 40-year lifetime of the plant, according to a union official and Department of Energy documents obtained by Hanford Challenge.
Despite the concerns raised in the documents, DOE gave Bechtel National, its contractor for the vit plant, the go ahead to complete fabrication of the tanks that use the mixing system, according to Hanford Challenge.
A federal engineering review team found in late July that Bechtel's safety evaluation of key equipment at the $12.2 billion plant was incomplete and that "the risks are more serious" than Bechtel acknowledged when it sought approval to continue with construction, the documents say.
Vit plant mixing system called flawed
Vit plant mixing system called flawed
LOS ANGELES -- The mixing system planned for the Hanford vitrification plant's high-level radioactive waste could wear out in only a few months rather than last the 40-year lifetime of the plant, according to a union official and Department of Energy documents obtained by Hanford Challenge.
Despite the concerns raised in the documents, DOE gave Bechtel National, its contractor for the vit plant, the go ahead to complete fabrication of the tanks that use the mixing system, according to Hanford Challenge.
A federal engineering review team found in late July that Bechtel's safety evaluation of key equipment at the $12.2 billion plant was incomplete and that "the risks are more serious" than Bechtel acknowledged when it sought approval to continue with construction, the documents say.
DOE told to take second look at vit plant safety culture
DOE told to take second look at vit plant safety culture
Actions proposed by the Department of Energy to strengthen the nuclear safety culture at the Hanford vitrification plant represent a start, but DOE should take a closer look at the issue, said the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a letter released Monday.
The defense board remains concerned that DOE does not agree with the findings of a defense board investigation into the nuclear safety culture of the plant. The safety culture concerns are related to the safe operation of the plant now under construction to turn radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal.
"The disparity between the stated acceptance and disagreement with the findings makes it difficult for the board to assess the response," said the letter sent to Energy Secretary Steven Chu by defense board Chairman Peter Winokur on Friday.
Vit plant workers bite their tongues, assessment says
Vit plant workers bite their tongues, assessment says
A significant number of federal and contractor staff on the Hanford vitrification plant project reported they were reluctant to raise safety or quality concerns, according to a new assessment of safety culture at the project released Friday.
The Department of Energy's Office of Health, Safety and Security, HSS, conducted the review as follow-up to an initial review released in October, and the follow-up included a stronger message calling for improvements.
The latest review by DOE's health and safety organization, which is independent of the DOE organization responsible for Hanford, found some Bechtel National groups believed fear of retaliation inhibited identification of problems at the vitrification plant.
Lawyers for Bechtel, Tamosaitis argue lawsuit's merit
Lawyers for Bechtel, Tamosaitis argue lawsuit's merit
Bechtel National plans to argue Monday that Hanford whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis doesn't have his facts right and his lawsuit should be thrown out.
But a lawyer for Tamosaitis will argue that Bechtel has misstated the facts and the case should go forward.
Both sides are scheduled to be heard Monday before Judge Craig Matheson in Benton County Superior Court to consider Bechtel's request to dismiss the case.
Print
Email Story
