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October 7, 2010 in Region
DOE: Hanford safety culture needs improvement
Some workers fear retaliation for raising concerns
Most workers believe the safety culture at the U.S. Department of Energy’s most expensive and most complex nuclear waste treatment plant is strong, but some worry they will face retaliation for raising concerns, according to a report this week.
The Energy Department surveyed workers at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which is under construction on the Hanford nuclear reservation near Richland, Wash., to learn if they feel comfortable pointing out safety concerns to superiors.
Most of those surveyed believed the safety culture was strong and improving, the report said. But some workers at private contractor Bechtel National, Inc., and its subcontractors felt differently.
“Some individuals within WTP believe that there is a chilled environment that discourages reporting of safety concerns,” the report said, adding some workers are worried they will be retaliated against if they raise safety issues.
Bechtel National officials did not immediately answer a call for comment. The company had previously said it had already decided to strengthen its nuclear safety culture before the review.
The $12 billion plant is intended to convert the most dangerous wastes left over from production of nuclear weapons into a glasslike substance for storage. Hanford contains the nation’s largest volume of Cold War era nuclear waste, and much of it is stored in aging underground tanks.
The huge WTP plant is the Energy Department’s largest construction project, and workers have been building it for more than a decade.
The safety culture came into question when Walter Tamosaitis, former research manager for the plant, was released from the project without warning in July after he said he raised 50 safety concerns Bechtel National officials. Tamosaitis was employed by Bechtel National subcontractor URS.
As a result, the Energy Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security surveyed workers in August and September.
Workers who expressed concerns were most worried about subtle retaliation, such as not getting selected for new assignments as their current tasks ended, the report said.
Some people, including senior staff and managers, said the Tamosaitis situation contributed to a chilling effect that may reduce their willingness to raise technical and safety issues, the review said.
Some workers complained that some managers talked safety, but then discouraged them from writing reports in which safety issues were raised unless those reports were cleared with management first, the review said.
Others complained that managers and company lawyers attempted to change issued documents to put the company in a more favorable light, the review said.
“Most WTP personnel who were interviewed expressed that their managers encouraged a questioning attitude and that they were comfortable with raising safety concerns,” the report said.
The report recommended that Bechtel make some changes, including that managers take steps to ensure that investigation of safety issues includes root causes; that safety programs are not hurt by changes in project status; and that they examine all credible concerns.
The Department of Energy and Bechtel National have begun to prepare for the transition from design and construction to construction and commissioning the plant for operation in 2019.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Three dead, three wounded in Seattle shootings 
Bob_Knows on October 07 at 11:58 a.m.
This is not about safety. Its all about UNIONS. The unions are using safety rules to delay cleanup, decontamination, and demolition for years and years, costing billions of taxpayer (OUR) dollars. The DOE needs to get its head out of its behind and tell the sand bagging UNIONS to get back to work or be replaced.
MrNatural on October 07 at 12:47 p.m.
Bob…you’re an idiot…
Bob_Knows on October 07 at 1:20 p.m.
Natural… Your a wank.
MrNatural on October 07 at 1:46 p.m.
Cool…I guess that makes us even
….Question fer ya Bob…there is nothing in the article to infer that the unions have any issue. One would think that if this was a union outfit then there would be no hesitancy to blow the whistle. I don’t even know if these are union workers…do you?
Random_Axis on October 07 at 3:09 p.m.
I’ll bet you dollars to donuts they are union workers.
Bob_Knows on October 07 at 6:57 p.m.
Natural: Of course they don’t talk about the union labor problems. That’s not “PC” to discuss in print. But that’s the real problem. Unions give big $$$$ to Obama, and the DOE backs their sham concerns about safety that they have been using to delay and delay and delay year after year after year while taxpayers (US) pick up their bills. And yes, I worked at Hanford for years and have relatives still working there. The cleanup job has been extended for years by phony (fraud) concerns about “safety.” Just unions playing games to keep from working themselves out of a job by finishing the cleanup.
Of course, the Republicans were no better. Nobody will say “boo” to union scams.
observer on October 08 at 11:27 a.m.
Sorry but NONE of you has it right. The safety concerns are about the Vit plant construction and commission. Not the people who are constructing it. This is a first of its kind plant and there are questions that need to be answered technically. If you can’t get a pulse jet mixer to mix the waste properly so it can get turned into glass, that’s a safety concern. If you have hydrogen plugging up ancillary vessels, that’s a safety concern.