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Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos kicked off a Labwide safety initiative with an all-employee meeting Tuesday in the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3. The initiative will engage Lab management and nonmanagement personnel in ensuring safety in the workplace.

Accountability key to safety initiative, Nanos declares

Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos told employees at a all-employee meeting Tuesday that everyone must commit to and take an active role in his safety initiative, "Taking the Next Steps."

"My sincere hope is that during my tenure at this Laboratory, or the tenure of any director, we never have to notify a family that their family member was injured while working at the Laboratory," Nanos said. "A safe, secure and compliant facility is a condition of employment in this Laboratory. This (initiative) is to make sure that all of you know you're going to be held accountable."

"Taking the Next Steps" kicked off Tuesday with Nanos' blunt presentation in the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3 and to Lab workers watching on Labnet. Video and CD copies of the mandatory meeting are available from the Health Safety and Radiation Protection Division (HSR) Office. The presentation is being rebroadcast on Labnet Channel 10. To see a schedule of times, go to http://www.hr.lanl.gov/TIO/labnet10.htm online.

At Tuesday's presentation, Nanos recounted several serious and near-miss accidents, ranging from a fall from a ladder that left a subcontractor with a compound leg fracture to electrical mistakes that could have killed other workers. He said 316 Laboratory workers were hurt during the past year, 171 so seriously that they lost time from work.

"In the past six months we've certainly had a number of significant accidents that, but for the grace of God, could have been a lot worse," Nanos declared. "That's not a very enviable record."

One important aspect of the initiative is that managers and workers will be held to high safety standards, standards that are not voluntary, Nanos said. "Take note," he continued; "we are setting our standards and people are going to be held to those standards.

"I'm sending a message to the management of this Laboratory that safety incidents will not be tolerated," Nanos said. "Safety, security and compliance are the number one priority of this Laboratory and I'm holding everybody in the Laboratory accountable."

He listed among the common causes of the recent accidents the following:

• poor identification of hazards;
• lack of focus on procedures;
• failure to manage work changes;
• failure to stop work when necessary;
• overall lack of accountability;
• failure to extrapolate lessons learned across all Laboratory organizations;
• poor management of subcontractor work;
• lack of formality "when it counts;" and
• not looking after one another's safety.

He urged workers to take responsibility for conditions in their workplaces and demand physical or procedural changes if conditions aren't safe. Laboratory staff and subcontractors should insist that safety standards be set high and think critically about how to fix safety issues in the workplace.

"If you've got an individual who's working with you who doesn't get it about safety, do you want that guy working next to you? . . . . Will you personally tolerate that?" Nanos asked as he drove home the importance of each Laboratory employee taking personal responsibility not only for his or her own safety but also for coworkers. Nanos repeatedly emphasized that the key to a safe workplace is individual accountability. Workers and managers must spend more time giving close and critical attention to work conditions and hazard controls, and to setting and complying with standards.

"We are not up to my standard. I hope we are not up to your standard," he said.

His standards, and the "Next Steps" initiative, include continuously improving safety, demonstrated involvement in all aspects of safety by senior management, a culture that won't accept poor safety practices and workers that will not gloss over safety problems.

Nanos used viewgraphs such as this to drive home the point that Lab personnel must support each other in preventing accidents. Photos by LeRoy N. Sanchez, Public Affairs

All managers will be required to attend training on safety improvement and management walk-arounds on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 15-16. Beginning Monday and continuing through Dec. 15, Laboratory consultant Dave Herbert of the National Safety Council will lead one-on-one mentored walk-arounds with division-level and above managers. In addition, small groups led by group leaders will continue brainstorm sessions on successful and unsuccessful safety strategies and procedures.

Nanos said he hopes the mentored walk-around training from Herbert will teach managers how to see the both the large and small safety issues in often-complicated work environments. That includes interacting with workers, carefully assessing the overall state of repair of key equipment and examining safety conditions in some detail.

Nanos recounted several major safety issues he confronted during his naval career, where he commanded ships and facilities at least as old and in many cases more hazardous than those used by Laboratory workers.

"In all that time, I never had to call a mother and tell her why I let her child die," Nanos said. "I don't intend to do that here. I have too much respect for you to see anyone hurt badly or, heaven forbid, anyone killed."

-- Jim Danneskiold

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