Hanford worker's fall came as contractor wins safety award

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

The fall of a Hanford worker 50 feet from a catwalk happened just as Washington Closure Hanford had received confirmation that it had made major improvements in its efforts to keep workers safe.

It was notified it had been approved as a Department of Energy Voluntary Protection Program Star site last month, DOE's highest safety recognition, but had not yet received the star flag to celebrate the accomplishment with employees.

The safety recognition marked a turnaround for the Hanford contractor since Chuck Spencer was named president of Washington Closure in January 2007. He came to Hanford following a series of problems with safety and conduct of operations in the contractor's first 18 months of work.

But as the serious accident last week showed, "you're only as safe as the job you're working on at the moment," Spencer said. "There are just so many hazards. You have to be focused every step of the way."

He feels blessed that the outcome of the accident, as bad as it was, was not worse, he said.

On July 1, four workers were making preparations to remove a crane that runs across the top of the 336 Building, also called the High Bay Test Facility, which will be torn down. They were on a permanent catwalk with railings 50 feet above the floor of the building.

Three of the workers had climbed back down the ladder when one went back up using a harness attached to fall protection equipment. At the top, the worker removed the fall protection equipment because it was not needed on the catwalk. However, the hatch on the floor of the catwalk was not closed behind him and he fell through as he worked.

About 25 feet down, he hit the railing that surrounded a landing for the ladder, bending the metal several inches, Spencer said. Then he fell to the floor below.

The worker's name has not been released but Washington Closure has described him as an experienced and safety-conscious worker.

The fall broke both legs, one of them in two places. He also had a cracked or broken rib, according to Washington Closure.

His co-workers are building a ramp at his house in preparation for his release from the hospital. Spencer has talked to his wife's employer, another Hanford contractor, and has been assured she will have the support she needs to care for her husband.

The Department of Energy is investigating the accident and a second review is being conducted by the corporate owners of Washington Closure, which include URS, Bechtel and CH2M Hill.

Spencer welcomes the reviews, hoping they will identify steps Washington Closure can take to be safer, he said.

Before Spencer was transferred to Hanford, Washington Closure's pay had been docked $100,000 for a series of electrical safety problems and the Department of Energy had been fined $120,000 for a chemical spill during work being done by Washington Closure. There were other problems: radioactive tritium was tracked outside of a radiological work area and testing data was falsified by a worker at a landfill for radioactive waste.

Spencer decided Washington Closure was not ready to move onto higher risk work, which required having a safety plan called the Integrated Safety Management System in place. He asked DOE to delay approval of the plan, knowing it would result in financial consequences but would improve safety at the site, he said then. DOE reduced Washington Closure's pay by $1 million.

However, by 2009 Washington Closure was undergoing a rigorous review to see if it could qualify as a star safety site under DOE's Voluntary Protection Program.

The review concluded that Washington Closure's management "has been exemplary in its demonstration of leadership and commitment to safety."

"Over the past two years, WCH has progressed from an organization that was perceived by the work force as valuing production over safety to an organization that values production because of safety," the DOE review said. It found that managers and employees were working well together to identify and control or eliminate potential hazards.

This spring the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff in a weekly memo raised concerns over an increase in safety-related incidents, including workers with skin contaminated by radioactive waste and a worker forgetting to wear a dosimeter into a high-radiation area.

The events were all discovered and reported by Washington Closure, even though the skin contamination was at a level below that required to be reported, Spencer said. Washington Closure was concerned, however, and had launched a new safety program called Safety Ownership about three weeks ago.

With investigations into the accident last week under way, Washington Closure has stopped all work more than 10 feet above the ground.

Hanford's other contractors also are renewing safety efforts.

Bechtel National has required all workers to attend safety meetings to "reset our safety frame of reference," said Bechtel spokeswoman Suzanne Heaston. The meetings were in response both to the Hanford accident and also the death of a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory worker in late June. The worker had left a car idling and jumped back in when it started to roll. He hit the gas by accident and was thrown from the vehicle and suffered a head injury.

Bill Johnson, president of Washington River Protection Solutions, sent a memo to management requiring mandatory attendance of all employees at a weekly safety meeting. "This is intended to be a significant safety emphasis event and is intended to rededicate each WRPS worker to the fundamentals of doing work safely," he said.

At CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., managers were required to review a presentation prepared by Washington Closure on the accident with all employees and then review any potentially similar work areas to identify hazards and ensure fall prevention plans and equipment were adequate.

-- Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com; More Hanford news at hanford news.com.

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Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Hanford worker's fall came as contractor wins safety award

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer