Introduction/Administrative The TRADE Industrial Hygiene/Occupational Safety Special Interest Group (IH/OS SIG) Steering Committee met on February 26, 2004 through a conference call meeting. IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Chair Bob Kapolka, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), facilitated the meeting in which the following Steering Committee members participated:
Harvey Grasso, DOE National Nuclear Security Administration, Livermore Site Office
Phil Grogin, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Ralph Hinterman, Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E), IH/OS SIG Chair-Elect
Lowell Howard, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Bob Kapolka, ORISE, IH/OS SIG Chair
Bruce Lippy , Michael D. Baker, Inc.
Deborah McFalls, ORISE, IH/OS SIG Coordinator
PNNL Training Programs Identified in 2004 Top 100 Ranking by Training Magazine Since the Steering Committee Conference Call meeting, PNNL has announced that in recognition of its leadership in staff development and continued management and operations excellence, they have received a 2004 Training Top 100 Award from Training magazine. In its first year as an applicant, PNNL placed 28th on the list of 100, having been selected from a field of more than 550 applicants. Additionally, PNNL’s management skills development program was one of only eight programs recognized as a best practice by Training.
Training magazine (www.trainingmag.com), a 37-year-old professional development magazine that advocates training and workforce development as a business tool, honored the 100 outstanding training programs from organizations in a variety of industries, ranging from manufacturing to insurance and banking to government. PNNL received the honor on Feb. 29 in Atlanta , Georgia at the Training 2004 Conference and Expo. The magazine used a multi-tiered nomination, application and interview process to select 100 elite international organizations. Companies submitted a detailed application providing both quantitative and qualitative data. Training magazine's editorial staff evaluated the information provided and conducted follow-up interviews, where appropriate. Judging also included reviews of formal programs, measurement methods of staff satisfaction with the organization's training programs and staff resources such as Web-based training and professional development.
PNNL's training programs have resulted in significant savings at the laboratory, including an estimated $5.6 million in recruiting, hiring and relocation costs in the last five years as a result of the lab’s management skills development program. The retention rate for managers who have participated in this program is 300 percent higher than the average retention rate. The laboratory employs more than 3,800 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff, and has an annual budget of nearly $600 million.
Supporting the DOE and DOE Contractors’ Meeting at AIHce 2004 The Steering Committee agreed to support the DOE and DOE Contractors' Industrial Hygiene Meeting scheduled for May 12, 2004 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta , Georgia . This meeting is being held in conjunction with the 2004 American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition. DOE Meeting Coordinator Dan Marsick will be contacted about IH/OS SIG Chair Bob Kapolk presenting information at the meeting about the SIG and their adopted project, the DOE Technology Support Learning Index ( TSL ). To assist DOE with the meeting, the committee agreed to provide a laptop and a LCD projector. Also, a general announcement about the meeting will be sent using the DOE TSL Listserv process. Additional information about the meeting can be found at: http://tisnt.eh.doe.gov/ihcc/conference.html.
Proposed 10 CFR 851 Worker Safety and Health Standard In December 2002, Congress directed DOE to promulgate regulations on worker safety and health rather than rely exclusively on a contractual approach to establish safe and healthy workplaces. This proposed regulation was intended to codify and maintain the high level of protection currently afforded workers within the DOE community. However, DOE announced on February 23, 2004 , the suspension of the rulemaking due to concerns about the proposed regulations from the Defense Facilities Nuclear Safety Board. For more details and a copy of the Federal Resister announcement about the suspension, visit the DOE Web site at: (http://www.eh.doe.gov/).
LANL’s TA-16 Stepladder Accident Investigation Video Committee Member Rob Nicholas previously reported to the committee that a video had been completed about an April 2003 ladder accident that occurred at LANL. The accident involved a subcontractor employee who was cutting a pipe while standing on 8-foot ladder which resulted in an injury. LANL decided to demonstrate how the accident occurred by making a video to include in the accident investigation report. Using little time and money, the clear, straight forward short video was made. Response to the video has been very positive and is being used as a lesson learned tool at LANL. The video was sent to committee members to review for potential distribution in the future as a SIG product. Committee Members were asked to review it prior to the February Steering Committee meeting so further discussions could occur about the video.
During this conference call, committee members noted the video was useful but offered some suggestions on potential accompanying materials that would be helpful:
Provide more details about the work being done when the accident happen
Develop some materials including questions to use as a training tool to create discussions about what went wrong
Discuss the event with the focus on the application of ISM
Provide information on what has changed at LANL as the result of this accident
Use the video as an aid in accident investigation and/or ladder safety trainings
The committee concluded that they would like to discuss their suggestions in greater details with Rob in a future Steering Committee call.
Contract Officer Web-Based Training The SIG has received a request for information about online or classroom courses aimed at contracting officers to ensure that health and safety issues are addressed in contracts. It was noted that a presentation was made on a Web-based training course for contracting official at the 1999 TRADE Conference by Norm Sandlin from ICF Kaiser Hanford Company at Rocky Flats. The following are the highlights of that presentation:
“Historically, an organization’s procurement department is often blamed for project delays and regulatory non-compliance when subcontracting for goods or services. Although some delays are legitimately caused by the procurement department, most occur due to inadequate pre-procurement planning and adherence to "technical" requirements by the requesting organization. This can result in Environmental, Safety, Health and Quality (ESH&Q) compliance violations with associated fines and penalties. Norm Sandlin presented a new Web-based training program that was developed to improve the up-front technical knowledge of the regulatory requirements and enhance development of the procurement documents, thereby simplifying the procurement process and eliminating most compliance deficiencies.”
IH/OS SIG Chair-Elect, Ralph Hinterman noted that lack of information for contract officers has been a challenge for ANL-E too. They are currently developing some materials to aid their contract officers.
2004 IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Workshop The committee started discussions about a 2004 IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Workshop. Two suggestions were:
Meeting in Washington , DC at the facilities of the Michael D. Baker, Inc., with Committee Member Bruce Lippy as the host. The meeting could occur in conjunction with the Joint EFCOG/DOE Chemical Management 2004 Workshop which is usually held in late October or early November of each year. Details about the 2004 DOE workshop are not available at this time.
Meeting in conjunction with the PCIH 2004 Conference. The 19th Annual Professional Conference on Industrial Hygiene is sponsored by AIHA's Academy of Industrial Hygiene , October 2–5, 2004 in Montréal , Canada . Additional details about the conference can be found at url: (http://www.aiha.org/TheAcademy/html/pcih.htm)
Open Discussion In response to a committee member’s request about available training in Spanish, Ralph Hinterman reported that ANL-E has a contractor orientation video course as well as handouts in Spanish. A valuable lesson ANL-E learned from the presentation of that materials was there were different levels of understanding in the Spanish language. Spanish training developed for a well educated person may not be understood well by workers with less education. The materials need to be written on level all workers can understand. Also, training delivered to a male worker force by a female trainer may not be accepted as well as if it was delivered by a male trainer.
Future Steering Committee Meeting The next Steering Committee Conference Call Meeting is scheduled for April 1. 1:15 – 2:45 EST, conference call number is 202/287-1391. The April Steering Committee Conference Call Meeting agenda will be sent to committee members prior to April 1.
For additional information, please contact: Deborah McFalls, IH/OS SIG Coordinator
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
P. O. Box 117, MS 10
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0117
