July 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Notebook

PerforM update

Laboratory employees now have until July 17 to provide comments on their work performance through the PerforM workbench.

The National Nuclear Security Administration recently moved the annual merit increase process from October to after January 1. As a result, the Laboratory can provide managers and employees with additional time to complete the year-end performance assessment.

The review period is from October 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. The Performance Management Web page has a revised timeline for employee comments and managers’ year-end assessment of employees.

After July 17, employees won’t have access to their year-end assessment until it has been finalized by their manager.

The Performance Management Web page is http://int.lanl.gov/orgs/hr/pmp/08-09timeline.shtml (internal only) online.

WSST safety talk series continues

The Institutional Worker Safety and Security Team speaker series continues this month with talks by Christopher Hart and Earl Carnes on July 28.

Talks are tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. in the National Security Sciences Building and 2 p.m. in the Physics Building Auditorium. The talks are 90 minutes and open to all Lab employees.

Their talk, “When Things Go Wrong: Human Performance Factors in High eliability Organizations,” acknowledges that humans make mistakes, and that organizations can design safety systems that may help prevent or lessen the incidence of safety occurrences. Human Performance Improvement within a DOE organization also is discussed in the presentations.

Hart is deputy director of Air Traffic Safety Oversight at the Federal Aviation Administration. Carnes is program manager for human performance and liaison to the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations for the Department of Energy.'

More information about the WSST safety talk series is at http://int.lanl.gov/esh/wsst/wsst_series.shtml (internal only) online.

The 2009 Sustainability Challenge

The 2009 Sustainability Challenge encourages students to implement pollution prevention techniques in the workplace that minimize the Laboratory’s environmental impact.

Seminars, events, and tours in July:
July 9: Annual Student Picnic, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Urban Park.
July 11: Greening LANL seminar, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Materials Science Laboratory Auditorium at Technical Area 3.
July 13: Tour of the Valles Caldera, 7 a.m to 4 p.m. Registration required.
July 29: Eco Film Festival: The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry? 10 a.m. to noon, Physics Building Auditorium. Registration required.

For more information and to register, go to the Student Sustainability Challenge Web page at http://int.lanl.gov/environment/challenge/lanl_only/show_energy/index.shtml (internal only) online.

E-mail about new federal security badge is legitimate

Laboratory employees eligible to receive the new federal security badge will receive e-mails from hspd12admin@identitymsp.com. These e-mails are legitimate and should not be deleted. Write to badge@lanl.gov with questions or for more information.

July service anniversaries

Find the July service anniversaries online at http://www.lanl.gov/news/currents/2009/july/anniversaries.shtml.

In memoriam

• Bobby Craig, 80, died February 18
• Ernestine Vigil Stewart, 84, died April 5
• Melvin T. Thieme, 83, died April 22
• Tom Ruiz, 68, died April 28
• Michael Lynch, 58, died May 11
• MJohn “J.W.” Isern, 59, died May 21

Other Headlines

• Lab employees restore and protect local watersheds
• Creating cleaner power
• A passion for the environment sparks a LANL Star
• Explosives school helps soldiers overseas
• New recycling and composting program helps reduce green waste
• My View: Leading the way in environmental management (Michael Graham)
• Kudos
• Notebook
• Our Goals: NNSA Pollution Prevention Award for alternative lighting
• Spotlight: Protecting threatened owls: This job’s a hoot