Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
7/11/2014
Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and two of its subcontractors won’t face fines from the Department of Energy for a set of safety incidents that occurred in 2012. This week, the DOE Office of Enforcement issued FBP a preliminary notice of violation, citing the contractor with two Severity Level 1 violations and one Severity Level 2 violation of the Department’s worker safety regulations for the tip-over of a 60-ton hydraulic crane. “DOE considers the potential for loss of life and/or serious injuries associated with crane operation and the associated violations to be of high safety significance. The tip-over could have resulted in at least one fatality,” Office of Enforcement Director Steven Simonson wrote in a July 8 letter. “DOE’s evaluation of the circumstances concluded that FBP did not effectively communicate work control program requirements to workers to ensure the performance of work activities in a safe and healthful manner.”
DOE chose not to impose a penalty against FBP, though, because the Department had already moved to reduce the contractor’s fee by $150,000 for “a negative safety performance trend during fiscal year (FY) 2012 and continuing into FY 2013 that incorporated the crane tip-over event,” Simonson wrote. He also noted the actions FBP has taken since the incident to make safety improvements. “DOE acknowledges FBP’s initial response to the event and subsequent corrective actions to address the potential violations and prevent their recurrence,” Simonson wrote. “DOE has concluded that FBP’s corrective action plan appears to address the violations cited in this PNOV in order to prevent recurrence. DOE further recognizes FBP’s substantial progress in implementing a broad, steady, long-term effort to address the legacy safety culture issues.”
The crane incident provided “a very real example” to FBP management and workers “of the inherent benefits to a disciplined process for work planning, authorization and control,” contractor spokesman Jeff Wagner said in a written response this week. “As the DOE Office of Enforcement letter acknowledged much hard work had been invested over the past three years in deploying at PORTS a compliant ISMS based approach to work execution. The management team and the entire Fluor-B&W workforce have learned a lot from this incident,” Wagner said. “We consciously left the crane parked in the location of the incident and use its photographs as very real reminders that we need not learn our lessons a second time if we work as a team within the controls provided by our ISMS.”
Subcontractors Get Enforcement Letters
The DOE Office of Enforcement also issued this week an enforcement letter to FBP subcontractor Wise Services for an incident that occurred when a track hoe struck a fiber optics line at the Portsmouth site. “DOE’s evaluation of the circumstances concluded that Wise Services did not assign an adequate number of workers for the project in order to ensure that work could be performed in a safe manner,” Simonson wrote in a July 9 letter. “Wise Services management did not prioritize and implement abatement actions commensurate with the identified safety risks and did not assign responsibilities for work activities during the pre-job briefing. Wise Services management also did not designate crew members to serve as spotters.”
While the identified deficiencies revealed “potential violations” of DOE worker safety regulations, the Department has chosen to take no enforcement action, Simonson wrote. “DOE acknowledges Wise Services initial response to the event and subsequent corrective actions to address these potential regulatory violations and prevent recurrence.”
DOE also publicly released this week an enforcement letter sent last fall to another FBP subcontractor, LVI Services, for an incident that occurred when an excavator struck an energized overhead power line. ”According to the LVI Health and Safety Plan, LVI has responsibility for safe working conditions during all phases of the project, including mobilizing, loading, and unloading equipment in the parking lot. The Office of Enforcement and Oversight concluded that LVI did not ensure that work was performed safely and in compliance with applicable requirements of Part 851 and its invoked Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, the LVI Health and Safety Plan, and FBP implementing procedures,” wrote John Boulden, then-director of the DOE Office of Enforcement and Oversight, in the Oct. 28, 2013, letter.
While LVI developed a corrective action plan to address the potential violations stemming from the incident and prevent recurrence, Boulden wrote, “the corrective actions appear to focus on event-specific causes and do not examine potential weaknesses in LVI subcontractor oversight at DOE sites, including evaluating subcontractor training and conducting effective pre-job briefings.” He added, “LVI should apply sufficient rigor to ensure that requirements, controls, and expectations are appropriately communicated so that subcontractors understand and properly implement them.” DOE chose to take no further action against LVI because of “LVI’s prompt response to implement compensatory measures and work with FBP in resolving the noncompliances associated with this event,” Boulden wrote.
