March 17, 2014

DNFSB ACCEPTS DOE’S PLAN FOR SAFETY CULTURE RECOMMENDATION

By ExchangeMonitor

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is OK with the Department of Energy’s plans to improve the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. In a brief letter sent to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu March 2, the Board said DOE’s implementation plan is an “acceptable response” to DNFSB Recommendation 2011-1, which warned of a flawed safety culture that could threaten the successful completion of the WTP project. In its implementation plan, released late last year, DOE said it would take a number of steps to improve the WTP safety culture, such as conducting additional reviews, increasing worker and manager training and taking steps to make it easier for workers to raise concerns. DOE also plans to look at revising Bechtel National’s contract for the project to potentially include safety culture elements.

While approving of DOE’s implementation plan, the Board expressed some concern over DOE’s proposed use of self-assessments at some sites to examine safety culture issues as part of a broader complex-wide review. Noting the need for “independent viewpoints and specialized expertise in safety culture assessments,” the Board letter says, “The extent-of-condition review specified in the Implementation Plan includes [DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security] evaluations at five design and construction projects, but uses self-assessments to determine whether any other independent reviews are needed. The Board cautions that DOE must be prepared to perform a broader suite of independent reviews if self-assessments do not prove to be a reliable indicator of safety culture status.”

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