March 17, 2014

SAFETY STAND DOWN IN PLACE AT AMWTP

By ExchangeMonitor

In response to a series of incidents where workers failed to fully abide by administrative procedures, Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, has instituted a safety stand-down at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site. The stand-down, which went into effect Feb. 14, applies to nuclear facility operations and maintenance work. “It is a decision that speaks to ITG’s concern for worker safety and developing a heightened awareness for following procedures,” contractor President and Project Manager Richard Raaz said in a statement. “We are going to take a number of actions with appropriate staff and supervisors and resume operations in a controlled manner over the next several days. Important safety tasks will continue under special oversight, including all safety related inspections that are required to keep the plant in safe configurations. Most non-nuclear work, such as routine maintenance and office support will continue,” Raaz said.

ITG chose to implement the safety pause after two incidents occurred Feb. 13 where workers failed to follow lock out/tag out procedures. One incident involved workers failing to perform a lock and tag during maintenance work on a piece of equipment, according to ITG, while the other involved workers failing to following the proper sequence of lock removal as they exited a work area. “Internal controls caught both events and no employee was injured and no equipment was damaged. Neither event was considered a Technical Safety Requirement issue, however the two events shared similar apparent causes, not following administrative controls,” according to ITG.

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