The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has notified Computer Sciences Corp. that it plans to investigate alleged problems with the electronic medical system being implemented at Hanford when CSC held the site’s occupational medicine contract. It also will consider taking enforcement action for retaliation against two former CSC workers who raised the concerns. The Office of Enforcement, part of the Office of Enterprise Assessments, considers the retaliation to be substantiated by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA in late 2015 ordered CSC to pay $186,000 in back wages for retaliation against the workers. In August 2012, they reported that the electronic medical record system was not accurately tracking employee medical restrictions, according to OSHA. A defect in the record system created the potential for workers to be exposed to beryllium despite medical restrictions that should have prevented them from working in areas where the metal was suspected to be present. Workers with an allergy-like immune system reaction to beryllium are more likely to develop an incurable lung condition, chronic beryllium disease, if they continue to be exposed to fine particles of the metal that may be inhaled.
The two employees, whose names have not been released, were laid off by CSC after DOE looked into their complaints. Both were information technology specialists working on software used at AdvanceMed Hanford, which was owned by CSC. CSC’s contract expired in September 2012. HPM Corp. then received the contract for Hanford occupational medicine services and it retained CSC as a subcontractor. CSC has until Oct. 21 to provide the Office of Enforcement any information to supplement what the DOE branch already has received from the Department of Labor. CSC appealed the OSHA findings shortly after they were released. It made no comment on the recent DOE notice of intent to investigate.
