I'm an SRO at Salem, supervising NLOs for the past 20 years. The old 10, 80, 10 rule is in effect, on this, as any job. 10% put all they have into the job enjoy it and add huge value, 80% do the job, enjoy it most of the time, and are the bread and butter of any operating shift (eyes and ears of the control room), 10% bad attitudes, think they have all the answers, do the absolute bare minimum, spend most of thier time trying to convince anyone who'll listen "how the man has it out for you", most of us wouldn't want them changing the oil in our cars.
The job is one of minimal supervision, NLOs are independant workers. For the most part they get to tour the plant looking for abnormal conditions, implement procedures, perform surveillances, think and determine what's important enough to report to the control room staff. Over the years I've learned that dropping what I'm doing, paying close attention to what's being said when I'm talking to any NLO, and most importantly doing my level best to act on what's been said, keeps me ahead of the issues and show's the NLOs thier issues are really the plant's issues. NLOs know alot more about plant operations than they get credit for.
At Salem (union plant) there are off-shift positions for working in the "fix it now team, outage preps, and other special projects that allow the NLOs to get a broader prospective of plant operation.
NLOs do work in hot and cold environments and there are dirty jobs but in balance a unique and challenging job. The social aspects of working on a shift, with it's attendant comradare is also a plus. It does take discipline (and an understanding family) to work rotating shifts and not all people are made to be shift workers.
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