The Hanford Site’s tank farm contractor has been given a national safety for the second consecutive year, this time for better protection of workers against potentially deadly arc flashes. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) received the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) Innovation Award this week at the VPP Participants’ Association national conference in Kissimmee, Fla.
Until now, Hanford tank farm electricians have had to choose between wearing supplied air respirators to protect against chemical vapors associated with tank waste or arc flash protection. “Now we don’t have to make that decision,” said David Kuster, one of several WRPS electricians who helped a supplier and testing laboratories develop a face shield that works with full-face respiratory equipment. DOE officials and WRPS safety professionals and managers also contributed to the effort. Kuster called the face shield a “game changer.” All tank farm electricians and some workers elsewhere at Hanford are using the adapted face shield, which also is available for commercial use.
Arc flashes are a type of electrical explosion or discharge that occur with a blinding flash of light, deafening noise, and temperatures that can reach 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. They cause a burst of concentrated energy that spreads hot gases and molten metal. Regional attention has been focused on this danger after an arc flash at the Priest Rapids Dam upriver from Hanford last year burned six utility workers, one of whom spent nearly a month in intensive care.
In 2015, WRPS was recognized with the VPP Innovation Award for developing a tool that can perform radiation surveys on long pieces of contaminated equipment removed from Hanford waste tanks while workers remained at a safe distance.
WRPS also received the VPP Star of Excellence Award for the second year in a row this week for maintaining a rate of recordable injuries that is 75 percent lower than the industry average.
