The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has endorsed a “Pandemic Response and Recovery Plan” that spells out a strategy for a gradual return to on-site work at its Washington, D.C., headquarters and elsewhere.
Since mid-March the DNFSB and its roughly 100-member staff have worked in a “maximum telework posture” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 23-page document adopted Sept. 15.
The DNFSB passed the 23-page page via unanimous consent on a motion by Joyce Connery, a board member.
On the face of things, the document has some resemblance to the approach used by the Department of Energy, in that it relies upon a four-stage program starting with a Phase 0, or pre-planning period. Ultimately, the response plan culminates with Phase 3, when “unrestricted on-site staffing” will be allowed.
Like the DOE strategy, there is early emphasis on workspace redesign to increase physical distance between co-workers, mandatory use of face coverings indoors, and religious adherence to cleaning, hand washing and sanitation.
Also like the DOE approach, the document stipulates that the plan be paused or modified in light of regional coronavirus infection trends, and government orders by local, state, or government authorities. The defense board headquarters and its sites start off in the Phase 0 planning and preparation stage.
The DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., entered Phase 1 on June 8 and Phase 2 on June 29.
During the early stages at least, visitor requests must be submitted to the DNFSB 24 hours in advance and need approval of either the chairman or the general manager. Visitors shall be limited to federal and contractor employees and only permitted entry to DNFSB space with a negative COVID-19 self-certification.
The DNFSB will use screening criteria from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine if visitors, such as contractors and other federal employees, should be allowed to enter the board’s work spaces. The restart program will also apply to work spaces for DNFSB field representatives. The board’s resident inspectors have done work on sites managed by DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration since the pandemic began, according to a spokesperson.
The pandemic response plan was emailed from DNFSB Executive Secretary Shelby Qualls to Board members Connery, Jesse Roberson, and Acting Chairman Thomas Summers. Summers, who only recently joined DNFSB as its vice chairman, is taking over in the top spot following the Sept. 12 resignation of former Chairman Bruce Hamilton.
The DNFSB is not a regulator, but provides independent safety analysis and recommendations to the Energy Department for its defense nuclear facilities, other than nuclear Navy facilities.
