EETD Safety Committee Minutes

Meeting of June 21, 2001
1:00 PM, 70-191

Attendees ("X" indicates present):

Handouts:

• Minutes from the 1/25/01 Safety Committee meeting
• The April—June 2001 Quarterly Division Safety Report (draft)
• The EETD Ergonomics Survey form (draft)
• Ergonomics Survey output report (early draft)
• Color posters of the upcoming Ergonomics Faire.

1. 1/25/01 meeting minutes—no corrections were presented.
2. Discussed the draft annual revision of the EETD ISM Plan (Don). (Copy was emailed to members on 6/19/01.)
   • Don pointed out in particular the section that pertains to the Safety Committee duties.
   • Guy mentioned that he had a few fairly minor changes to suggest, but hasn't completed going through the document yet.
   • No other suggested changes were made.
3. Report on EETD Ergonomics Plan progress and Committee activities (Guy).
   • The Ergonomics Committee (chaired by Nancy Padgett) has met 5 times so far this calendar year.
   • Currently finalizing a web-based EETD Ergonomics Survey form that all Division staff will be asked to fill out in July.
     • The purpose of the survey is to get a handle on the scope of ergonomic workstation upgrades and evaluations necessary in the Division in the near future.
   • Depending on the survey results, the plan of action includes picking about 10 EETD people to be trained as evaluators. Each evaluator would be responsible for a group of about 15 to 20 employees. EH&S evaluators would still be used for more critical evaluations where there are injuries, discomfort, or other complexities involved. In-house evaluators would be used for the more routine evaluations and all follow-up work.
   • The committee is finalizing guidelines for workstation upgrades, including the development of a pre-approved equipment list.
   • Comments from Don: The SRC is considering the idea of having a letter automatically go to the user of every new computer purchased that would describe ergonomic issues and equipment.
   • Tasks still to be done include designing the survey output reports, conducting the survey and manual follow-up for non-responders, and ramping up the training program for our in-house evaluators.
4. Review of borderline self-assessment performance (preliminary) results (Guy). Overall, our Self-Assessment preliminary results are looking good. We might get all green again this year. Members were referred to the Quarterly Division Safety Report for details.
   • Resolving LSAD deficiencies: A strong campaign is in progress to contact and work with PI's who have outstanding deficiencies.
   • Training completion rate: Current completion rate for the Division is 87%, which should just barely give us a green score (which requires an 85% score or better). Quarterly training deficiency notices will continue to be sent. Don has requested a listing of those with long term training deficiencies.
   • QA failure rate (hazardous waste characterization): EETD's current QA performance rate is 95.45%—barely a green which requires at least a 95% performance rate.
   • Line management participation: Committee members were urged to encourage their PI's, Group Leaders, and Department Heads to make safety walkthroughs. Don will send an email to Department Heads.
5. IFA status report (Larry).
   • Members were referred to the Quarterly Division Safety Report for details.
   • Larry discussed the purpose of the IFA review.
   • Current status: Inspections have been completed, the report is being written by the IFA team, EETD will have the opportunity to review the report before it becomes final.
   • A Lessons Learned from the IFA walkthroughs: noise, as well as motion, will activate light sensors in a room if the lights go out.
6. Safety To-Do List and Suggestion poster.
   • Members were reminded of the intent and current development status of this communication tool.
   • The prototype poster was passed around.
   • Don will appoint a Committee member to complete the final development and implementation of the poster.
7. Additional comments/issues/ideas
   • It was requested that people be notified of deficiencies sooner when inspections result in findings. This suggestion was so noted by the Safety Coordinator.
   • John mentioned that it worked well when safety staff attended his group meeting last year and he encourages all groups to take advantage of this periodically.
   • Guy & Don: Summarized the Division's DOE recordable injuries for the fiscal year and the mitigation actions taken.
   • Guy: Polled members about what meetings and line-management walkthroughs involving safety that have occurred in their Departments and Programs.
     • Marion mentioned the Department PI meeting that Bill Fisk lead which included safety as an agenda item.
     • Don mentioned that Don Grether had a Department PI meeting that included safety.
     • John mentioned that his weekly group meetings involve safety at least quarterly.
     • Guy mentioned that he was aware that the Energy Performance of Buildings group have regular meetings that include safety, and they have appointed a group safety officer—Craig Wray.
   • Guy: Distributed the Ergonomics Faire poster and asked members to post somewhere appropriate in their Department areas.