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You are here:  EM Home > Safety & Quality Assurance |
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Safety & Quality Assurance
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The Environmental Management (EM) program maintains the highest safety standards
in all that we do, for our own protection, for the safety and security of our
physical assets, and for the citizens and stakeholders in the communities where
we are located. Our number one priority is doing our work safely; safety will not
be compromised in meeting our goals and milestones. Assistant Secretary James
Rispoli is very clear in his strong personal commitment to safety: “No schedule,
no milestone, no cost consideration is worth any injury to our work force.”
We strive to become a leader in safety throughout the Department of Energy (DOE) complex,
with an approach to and a record in safety that meets or exceeds the best private
industrial firms. Although our safety record can be considered good in comparison
to private industry (see below), there still is room for
improvement in our orientation and actions, recognizing that we need to keep up our
guard and strive for zero accidents. We are always looking for ways to improve
individual awareness of the importance of safety; improve knowledge and competence
through training and instruction; motivate through leadership and sustained,
demonstrated interest in safety performance; and improve independent and self
assessment of safety issues.
(Click on chart to enlarge)
Our field organizations are vigilant in overseeing safety every day at the working
level. At EM headquarters, we track a variety of safety data to identify
commonalities and trends across the EM complex that may help to avert future safety
incidents. Our latest efforts include the use of
normalized data to
account for variations in work performance. Not only do we analyze safety statistics;
we also analyze each occurrence in detail to
determine root causes, and the effectiveness of corrective actions to prevent
recurrence. We then ensure that these actions are communicated across the complex
to share
lessons-learned  . Our safety staff performs in-depth targeted and
comprehensive
safety assessments
at our EM sites, to personally witness the effectiveness of contractor and field
oversight systems and processes.
Integrated Safety Management (ISM )
EM integrates environment, safety and health requirements and controls into all work activities,
and oversees implementation of ISM within field federal and contractor activities to
ensure protection to the worker, public, and the environment. The EM safety culture
is founded on the following principles:
- An environment where each employee instinctively feels responsible for safety
- Leaders demonstrate commitment to safety
| Safety is first - it overrides every other priority |
- Trust towards each other is a signature of the organization
- Decision-making reflects safety as the overriding priority
- An inquisitive attitude and behavior towards challenging assumptions and considering potential adverse consequences of planned actions
- A disciplined authorization basis system is essential to ensuring all hazards are identified and mitigated before work begins
- Organizational learning is embraced
- We openly examine our operations and solicit feedback from external resources.
EM Headquarters expectations for establishing and maintaining a safety conscious work
environment for all work performed at EM sites can be summarized as follows:
- Safety is the dominant characteristic and value of EM. Safety comes first and is
valued above production, budget, and schedule. Safety overrides every other priority.
- Safety drives how we do business. EM federal staff will not accept shortcuts
which circumvent safety or yield less than quality results. This systematic approach
motivates a culture of personal responsibility by and for each employee. We follow
the DOE Safety Management System Policy
which is a systematic approach for selecting and incorporating the appropriate safety standards,
necessary work controls, and expectation of continuous feedback/improvement.
Integrated Safety Management Principles
- Line Management Responsibility for Safety
- Clear Roles and Responsibilities
- Competence Commensurate with Responsibilities
- Balanced Priorities
- Identification of Safety Standards and Requirements
- Hazard Controls Tailored to Work Being Performed
- Operations Authorization
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An accident-free workplace is our goal and is achieved through careful planning, close
attention to hazard controls, worker involvement in task planning, and stopping work
in the face of uncertainty. EM offers a work environment which fosters and encourages
an open exchange of ideas. This includes raising safety concerns or
differing opinions
without fear of retaliation. It is fully expected from EM
employees to protect themselves and others against accidents, and to raise safety
issues and provide feedback for improving work processes.
Quality Assurance
EM is committed to achieving quality in all of its mission work in accordance with
the “Quality Assurance Rule” (10 CFR 830, Subpart A  )
and DOE Order 414.1C, Quality
Assurance . The DOE Order establishes roles and
responsibilities for Secretarial Officers, Field Elements and contractors.
Specifically the Order calls for Secretarial Officers to “Ensure that Headquarters,
field elements and contractors implement requirements of this Order (DOE O 414.1C)
in an integrated manner and coordinate the resolution of quality issues among these
organizations.”
EM is committed to quality of all mission results and the elimination of errors. The
EM Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP)
describes the method by which quality assurance is implemented into Integrated Safety
Management System and the overall work processes. The EM QAPP identifies those
requirements and actions which are implemented in EM to achieve quality results and
is applicable to everyone in the organization.
EM's QAPP places accountability for quality with each and every employee. In addition,
it emphasizes the creation of an environment for resolving quality problems rapidly
and an attitude of constant improvement. EM has ten criteria for quality assurance:
- Establish an organizational structure, functional responsibilities, levels of authority, and interfaces for management, performance, and assessment of work. Establish management systems for planning work and resource allocation.
- Train and qualify personnel to be capable of performing assigned work.
- Establish and implement processes to detect and prevent quality problems. Identify the causes of problems and include prevention of recurrence as a part of corrective action planning.
- Prepare, review, approve, issue, use, and revise documents to prescribe processes, specify requirements, or establish design. Specify, prepare, review, approve, and maintain records.
- Perform work consistent with technical standards, administrative controls, and hazard controls adopted to meet regulatory or contract requirements using approved instructions and procedures.
- Design items and processes using sound engineering/scientific principles and appropriate standards. Verify/validate work before approval and implementation of the design.
- Procure items and services which meet established requirements and perform as specified. Evaluate and select prospective suppliers on the basis of specified criteria.
- Inspect and test specified items, services, and processes using established acceptance and performance criteria.
- Managers assess their management processes to identify and correct problems which hinder the organization from achieving its objectives.
- Plan and conduct independent assessments to measure item and service quality and the adequacy of work performance and to promote improvement.
Safety & Design Integration
EM is responsible for several newly constructed
or planned nuclear facilities, as well as major modifications to existing nuclear
facilities. The Department of Energy has placed additional emphasis in ensuring that
safety is fully integrated into early phases of facility design. The Department
strengthened
DOE Order Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets
, so that nuclear safety
requirements are fully integrated in the early phases of design.
Worker Safety & Health
EM establishes and implements Integrated Safety
Management systems that ensure work is performed safely and in a safety conscious
work environment. EM commits to a “Zero Accident Policy,” and strives to eliminate
hazards to workers to help ensure the entire EM workforce goes home at the end of the
day the same as they arrived. Contractors have been required by contract to implement
requirements outlined in Department of Energy order
DOE O 440.1A, Worker Protection Management for DOE Federal and Contractor Employees .
Some of the features of the Worker Safety and Health Program are: 1) Management Commitment;
2) Employee Involvement; 3) Hazard Assessment and Hazard Control; 4) Implementation
of Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) 
and other worker safety standards; and 5) Feedback and Improvement. The DOE
O 440.1A requirements are now covered by 10 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR)
851 Worker Safety and Health Program ,
which is applicable to DOE contractors doing work at DOE sites. A new feature of
10 CFR 851 that will be effective in February 2007 is that it will be enforceable by
civil penalties issued by the DOE Office of Enforcement, in addition to contract
penalties.
EM has made great strides EM-wide in implementing effective Worker Safety Health
Programs that has resulted in substantial decrease in our injuries. As depicted
in the chart above, EM Total Recordable Case rate (TRC) and Days Away, Restricted
or on Job Transfer (DART) rate for the first quarter of 2008 were 1.01 and 0.33,
respectively, as compared to the 5.9 and 3.2 2006 Department of Labor benchmarks
for the construction industry. (Industry comparison data for 2007 will not be
available until late fall 2008.) A number of our EM sites have been recognized as
“Star” sites for their worker safety and health programs through the Voluntary
Protection Program. EM provides continuous emphasis on safety by DOE management at
all levels, such as during the weekly field managers calls on Wednesdays, and
incorporation of safety early in the project planning.
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