Coc Safety Wellbeing Split

Safety and Wellbeing

Safety and Wellbeing

Los Alamos National Laboratory is fully committed to the safety and wellbeing of its employees. We believe that the safety and wellbeing of our employees and the work they do is the foundation of our mission and operational success.

We work to provide a positive, productive, and safe work culture for employees, students, contractors, visitors, and other on-site personnel. Our culture empowers all Lab managers and employees to be individually and collectively responsible for and committed to safety at work, including safely getting to and from work. 

As part of this commitment, Laboratory workers are responsible for and empowered to work safely, protect the safety and wellbeing of others, promptly report at-risk behaviors or conditions, and pause or stop work when observing imminent danger. Managers are responsible for providing an environment in which work can be performed safely and where safety and wellbeing concerns can be readily brought forward without fear of retaliation. When employees raise safety issues or concerns, Lab managers listen to employee feedback, ensure concerns are addressed, and take appropriate actions, when needed. 

Overall, the Lab supports a culture in which employees are empowered to improve safe work practices and invest in their own wellbeing. All Laboratory managers and employees share in this responsibility and commitment.

Summary of Policy

All workers at the Laboratory have the authority and responsibility to pause and/or stop work when confronted with an activity or operation in which anyone is unsure of safety, or suspects unsafe conditions, acts, or situations posing a potential or an imminent danger. The right of workers at the Laboratory to pause or to stop work implements a critical worker right under 10 CFR 851, Worker Safety and Health Program. Employees raising any issues or concerns regarding safety and health practices may take advantage of several venues to do so including notification to management, their Environment, Safety, & Health (ES&H) staff, Facility Operations Director (FOD), WESST representative, the Safety Concerns Hotline, or the Employee Concerns Program.

Do the Right Thing

  • Take responsibility for and stay committed to promoting your own safety and wellbeing. 
  • Share in the responsibility for the safety of your coworkers, your organization, and the Lab overall.
  • Engage in safety, wellbeing, and culture initiatives and programs at the Lab.
  • Be alert to safety risks and only undertake work you are trained to do.
  • Maintain a safe work environment and conduct work safely to protect and preserve the wellbeing of yourself, Laboratory staff, and the public.
  • Be consistent and disciplined in adhering to work procedures and guidelines when performing tasks and operations.
  • Understand and apply safety standards to job function and perform duties in a safe manner.
  • Be an advocate for safety and security.
  • Report hazards, unsafe acts, and unsafe work conditions immediately.
  • Pause or stop work in situations posing a potential or imminent danger.

Common Questions

DOE has three safety culture focus areas: leadership, worker engagement, and organizational learning. LANL’s  safety performance, objectives, measures, and commitments are aligned with these areas. In other efforts to align with the DOE safety culture focus areas, LANL stood up a senior-level Cultural Alliance and a Cultural Enhancement Working Group that is identifying cultural enhancement opportunities in these three areas. The goal is to engage and educate employees and managers on ways to enhance and improve safety and wellbeing for themselves and their organizations, ultimately reinforcing the shared commitment that “how we do our work is as important as what we do.” 

The objective of ISM is to integrate safety into management and work practices at all levels addressing all types of work and hazards to ensure safety for workers, the public, and the environment. ISM guides safe work performance in a manner that ensures adequate protection for employees, the public, and the environment. This includes:

  • Exercising a degree of care commensurate with the work and the associated hazards.
  • Ensuring that management of ES&H functions and activities is an integral and visible part of the work planning and execution processes.

LANL has numerous safety and wellbeing programs accessible to employees, students, and subcontractors. The ESHQ Program Office is the Lab-wide resource for the institutional LANL safety and wellbeing programs. These safety and wellbeing programs work together to enhance culture, promote employee wellbeing, and improve safety outcomes across the Lab. Employees are encouraged to participate in these programs and others. Employees are also encouraged to participate in their organization’s Worker Environment Safety and Security Teams (WESSTs), which provide workers the opportunity to engage in and contribute to safety and security initiatives and actions. Learn more about the Labs WESST’s here. Employees can learn more about the institutional safety programs and how to engage in them by visiting the ESHQ Program Office website. More general information on safety programs and policies at the Lab can be found on the Lab Safety website.

The Laboratory embraces SCoR (Safe Conduct of Research) principles because they have proven to help organizations learn from their challenges and reduce accidents and injuries, unnecessary risks, and distractions. SCoR principles refer to personnel safety, industrial safety, radiological safety, and nuclear safety, when applicable. The eight SCoR principles, listed below, help guide behavior, form the basis for a strong safety culture, and give employees and managers a shared, common-sense approach to doing work safely, securely, and compliantly:

  1. Everyone is personally responsible for ensuring safe operations. 
  2.  Leaders value the safety legacy they create in their discipline.
  3. Staff raise safety concerns because trust permeates the organization.
  4. Cutting-edge science requires cutting-edge safety.
  5. A questioning attitude is cultivated.
  6. Learning never stops.
  7. Hazards are identified and evaluated for every task, every time.
  8. A healthy respect is maintained for what can go wrong.

As an employee, you have the right and the responsibility to pause or stop any work if you feel your safety or the safety of others is at risk. In general, when a worker observes an unsafe condition or act that may pose an imminent danger, potential environmental, quality, or waste generation noncompliance, or other safety concern/hazard, the worker has the authority and responsibility to inform the worker engaged in that work and request that the work activity be paused and/or stopped based on the perceived risk posed to the individual. If the hazard or compliance issue can be resolved immediately and to the mutual satisfaction of the workers involved, no reporting or further action is required. If a worker is not successful in pausing/stopping work, then he or she must inform the First Line Manager (FLM) or Responsible Line Manager (RLM) (or any line manager) for the observed work, who then is expected to invoke the requirements of pause/stop work. Refer to P101-18, Procedure for Pause Stop Work, for further guidance.

Additional Resources