Department of Energy contractors confirmed Friday morning that a temporary work stoppage occurred Thursday at the Hanford Site’s tank farms in Richland, Wash.
The Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Friday April 3 that a labor organization, the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, initiated the work stoppage over emergency response concerns following the on-the-job death of a Hanford employee at the tank area a week earlier.
While Hanford managers have concluded emergency response time was not a factor in the worker’s death, the article reported that improvements will be made to Hanford’s computerized emergency response location system. The article reported the changes will make it easier to locate emergencies that don’t occur near specific buildings.
Contractor teams led by BWXT and Leidos, which are in charge of Hanford tank management, and Hanford emergency services, respectively, confirmed to Exchange Monitor that the temporary work stoppage occurred Thursday.
Tank farm work resumed at the site later Thursday.