LANL AVOIDS FINE FOR BERYLLIUM EXPOSURE INCIDENT

Los Alamos National Laboratory has avoided a fine for an incident in which a laboratory machinist was exposed to higher-than-allowed levels of beryllium. In a May 29 letter to LANL Director Charlie McMillan, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement and Oversight said the lab ignored procedures for collecting and controlling personal exposure assessment air samples and didn’t keep accurate hazard assessment and exposure controls records when the employee was exposed to more than 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of beryllium during an eight-hour shift, exceeding DOE’s “action” level. According to the letter, the machinist was performing wet beryllium machining operations on a Hardinge T-51 lathe with a self-contained exhaust system when he was splashed with machining fluids on July 11, 2012. The employee, however, only wore booties, coveralls, gloves and safety glasses and was not wearing a respirator, and DOE’s Office of Enforcement and Oversight said the lab’s hazard controls left the employee unprotected from the possibility that they could be splashed by machining fluid.

The employee also did not properly catalog his actions during his shift in documents submitted with air samples for analysis, and only later revealed that he had been splashed with machining fluids, and the lab failed to follow other procedures in analysis of the incident. "The facts and circumstances indicate weaknesses in LANS’ collection and documentation of industrial hygiene exposure assessment information and the application of that information to anticipate, identify, evaluate, and control beryllium hazards,” Office of Enforcement and Oversight Director John Boulden wrote. “These weaknesses may prevent LANS from establishing a definitive cause for an event and identifying appropriate corrective actions when occupational exposure limits are exceeded.” DOE declined to fine the lab because it quickly took corrective actions to address the issues, but it did not identify the corrective actions in its letter.