Work Resumes At Fukushima Following Safety Investigation

Cleanup work resumed yesterday at the Fukushima-Daiichi Power Station following the death of two workers last month. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) suspended work at the site until a full safety review into the two separate worker deaths could be completed. As a result of the review, TEPCO introduced new measures to put safety ahead of deadlines, including “increased training on accident prevention, increased emphasis on the priority of safety over schedules, and a commitment to have senior executives patrol the facilities to identify risks and personally convey the ‘safety first’ message,” the company said. Both worker deaths involved contractor employees operating at the TEPCO sites. “While industrial accidents may be difficult to entirely eradicate, the loss of life is completely unacceptable,” Chairman Fumio Sudo said in a statement. “We convey our sincere sympathy to the families of the workers who lost their lives, and we are committed to doing everything we can to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.”

 

TEPCO indicated, though, that due to the safety inspection and subsequent pause in work, some work may see delays up to a month. According to a release, the details of what work is affected most is still being determined. The accidents, one at each of the two Fukushima plants, were unrelated to each other. In one, a worker fell into an empty water tank during inspection, and in the other, a worker was killed by falling heavy equipment