NukeWorker Forum

Career Path => Safety => Topic started by: joey71 on Jun 10, 2009, 08:04

Title: Safety
Post by: joey71 on Jun 10, 2009, 08:04
I checked out the 360training online that nukeworker offers and they had sent me a price list of all their osha training, that is obviously what I am interested in.
 My question is would there be a future in the nuke biz for the safety work? (I know safety is a priority in this business that is why I ask.)

 I have 14 yrs in the carpenters union and would like to go a different direction in my career path, I really enjoy working inside of the plants and would like to stay that way. What other training would be needed for a full time safety position?


Also right now they do not offer the 511 online, that is the pre req to the 501. However they offer tons of training in the "general industry" and "construction" --

 Which one of these would be geared more toward the nuke industry? I am guessing the "general industry" would be it. But when I "guess" -- usually I am wrong.

Thanks for the help, Joe
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Jun 11, 2009, 12:48
The 511 is also known as OSHA 30.  I do believe that they offer it on line.  But you can probably get it for free at the union hall.  You do not need an OSHA 501.  All that does is give you the right to teach the OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 courses.  It makes you a safety TRAINER.  There is a HUUUUUGE difference between a safety trainer and a safety specialist.  Quite a few of my guys have the 500 or 501, but it doesn't, in my opinion, make them better safety specialists.

You can take a lot of courses, and spend a lot of money doing it, and still not be employable as a safety specialist.

You need practical experience in dealing with actual safety issues.  RP techs are generally the first place I go to when I need to hire someone.  The majority of them have been doing the industrial safety along with the radiological safety on most of their jobs.  Even those who haven't can translate one into the other without a lot of effort.

I've had a few people come in from the manual trades.  some of them claimed to have done a lot of work as General Foremen or Supervisors - but obviously didn't pick up any leadership skills from that.

If you have 14 years in the UBC&J, a change in direction might be a little difficult.  The Safety Professional, is a member of management.  There is no union contract, no steward to protect you, usually no double-time, frequently no pension fund or vacation pay.  I don't mean to make it sound bad.  My guys and I do pretty well.  But someone who is used to working under union contracts, with union benefits and rules, may not like the change.

Also, as a skilled tradesman you will have to go through a dramatic transition of your mind.  You will have to forget everything you know about working like a carpenter without forgetting anything about how to do carpenter work.  You'll have to learn everyone else's job too. 

Your best path to jobs in safety is to take a few of these courses.  Start with the OSHA 10 or OSHA 30.  Don't try allof them or spend a lot of money yet.  Then try to get on with a company as a supervisor for a while.  Give the weekly safety meetings, do the inspection reports, write up the injury and near-miss reports, do the Job Hazard Analyses, and hangout with your safety man as much as possible.  Try to learn what he knows.  find out what he looks for and how he finds it.  Start thinking like he does ( basically, you have to constantly ask yourself: "what is the stupidest thing that could be done right now?"  or "What unlikely - nearly impossible - situation can come up and bite somebody in the ass right now?). 
Then, grow a thick skin.  You have to be wearing a hide like an elephant to do this job and not let it get to you.  If you have sensitive feelings - or care even a little bit about what the workers think of you - you're cooked.  You are going to have to stand in front of a group of people who have done a job for decades, and tell them how to do it.  You are going to tell them things that they will think are stupid and un-necessary.  You are going to subject yourself to ridicule just about daily because you are suggesting things that - although REQUIRED BY LAW AND THE CONTRACT - they will consider to be impossible or just stupid.  They won't waste a heartbeat in telling you so either.
Management, on the other hand, preaches loud and often that safety is their number one priority, but they will put only one safety specialist on noon to midnight to cut costs.  (Like to see them work their engineers and managers that way, huh?)  They will complain that the schedule and the budget won't permit them to do the work the way you know it needs to be done.  So, they'll undercut you, distract you, send you on a goose chase, or tell you to take a day off while they "git-r-done".  They'll think of you as nothing but an overhead expense that produces no revenue (ignoring the millions in workers' comp costs that you'll save them every year).

Still want to do it?  Good luck.  It is the best, most rewarding job I have ever had.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: retired nuke on Jun 12, 2009, 12:41
Beer - I have enjoyed the last year as a safety guy - we appointed a union member to our safety dept as part of our VPP program, and I got the spot.
I agree, the OSHA 30 and some experience in safety at a jobsite is needed. While it seems second nature for RPs, it is a shift in mindset. I can imagine it's even more so for craft. I fond that my biggest safety headaches are RPs though....many seem to feel exempt because they "aren't doing the work"... even though they are still at risk from the energy isolation of the tagout, or the confined space.
I am pursuing the OHST (hopefully before the end of the year) and will keep my hand in even after I return to RP next year.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Mike McFarlin on Jun 13, 2009, 01:36
A 40-hour OSHA course does not make a safety dude or dudette the same way passing the NRRPT exam does not make you a competent HP or having the OSHA scaffologist cert makes you a good carpenter. 

Safety it is not the cake walk job it appears to be.  
Amen, brother. Of course, anything worth having is not easy!
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Jun 13, 2009, 03:03
So true. So very true.
I am approached almost daily by people who show interest in working for us.
My impression is that may believe that the money is the only difference between my job and theirs.  In my case, I started with an ambition to move up the ladder of responsibility.  I was more dissatisfied with the limitations of my job than with the money - although I wasn't completely happy with that either.
I know that many techs just want to be foot-soldiers.  They could do more, but don't want to.  Others think that they should be better compensated for the job they have without taking on more responsibility, and they are not entirely wrong about that.  It is easy to make the mistake of watching someone do a job and thinking that you can do it too.
I guess that you could look at a lot of people and think , "That guy gets paid a lot more than I do and doesn't seem to be working nearly as hard.  So, why not me?"
That is the point where a lot of people leave their analysis.  But, you really have to look a lot deeper than that.  Safety management requires a different set of skills that are not readily apparent to an observer.  A course will give you information, but the skills have to be developed by the individual.
It isn't hard to make my job look easy, because the effort does not appear on the surface.  This is probably true of any job.  I think a lot about how many people watch the RP tech and just assume that it is as easy as it looks.  For that matter, driving an Indy car looks pretty simple too if you don't think about it very much.  Most of you married guys with children at home have probably thought that it would be nice to swap places with your wife - and very few of us have held that belief for long.  I, for one, know that my wife could go make us a good living, but I wouldn't take her job - even if I could do it almost as well as she does.
No job is really as easy as it seems to be, but that doesn't mean you can't learn it.  In my humble opinion, most of the people on this board could learn my job if they try.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: joey71 on Jun 15, 2009, 06:32
A 40-hour OSHA course does not make a safety dude or dudette the same way passing the NRRPT exam does not make you a competent HP or having the OSHA scaffologist cert makes you a good carpenter. 

Safety it is not the cake walk job it appears to be.   


Mutant-- Thanks for the quote, however that has nothing to do with the question that was asked. I was asking what training would get me geared up --- I do not believe that there is a 40 hr OSHA course anyway. There isnt a certificaftion out there that makes you a "professional" in any industry, but it does give you the knowledge to becoming one to grow further.


Beercourt-- Thank you sir for all of your words of wisdom and that would be from real life experience. In your first post you gave me a baseline to start with. Iam not saying that being a safety professional/specialist is an easy money. By all means that would be totally opposite. You have the workers just wanting to prove you wrong constantly, sitting in front of a number of grown folks wanting to fall asleep each time you speak, others that think your job is a total waste of money and as you said management taking any opportunity to push you aside so that a job can get done.

As far as the whole Union tradesman, that does not bother me in the least bit, I work very hard and really cannot care what a "steward" has to say -- there is not much that he or she says or does that reflects upon my longevity of a job or my concerns at a job. The union contract is just about the same,, Contractors do just about what they wish as long as they keep members working, the union is happy. I personally have had it with beating the heck out of my body and firmly believe that I do not want to be building @ the age of 50!!

I wish to just choose a different road, not too worried about how hard it is or what it takes to get started, it is what I have an interest in and what I would like to do for the rest of my working career.

NOT looking for a cakewalk- if I was I would have never been a Carpenter!!

Thank you in advance for any information. Take care   


















 
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: MeterSwangin on Jun 15, 2009, 11:28
Amen, Brother.

The Safety guys come in two flavors:  1) the burned-out looking to quietly cruise into retirement without ever again doing anything useful, and 2) busy-body hero wannabees too lame to actually get into the fire department.

After 2 years group 2 loses steam and merges into group 1.

Ponder deeply: Can I get passionate about chinstraps?  Will proper earplug use fulfill my purpose on earth?  Can my kids really be proud of daddy's new parking lot speedbump?
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Jun 16, 2009, 10:51
It's not such a minority anymore.  We are a growing breed.  But there are more flavors than Baskin-Robbins.  My current roster is around 40 people.  There are 40 distinct personalities.  The one thing they all have in common is a true passion for what we do.  I work a lot harder than I did when I was swinging a meter - but I don't get nearly as tired.  It is always interesting, always new, frequently frustrating, and sometimes impossible.   But, I love doing it, and I can tell you that there are at least 40 other people who feel the same as I do about that.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: illegalsmile on Jun 18, 2009, 12:54
It is always interesting, always new, ....

That's an understatement. In many places, safety and IH merge and then you deal with more issues than you can imagine...then, if you really want to make it interesting, get into a job like the one I'm in, where you throw in environmental issues. Now THAT's livin'!!!
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: duke99301 on Jun 20, 2009, 07:25
Ok I am leaving safety and going to work ALARA  back to hp land. how that for a jump.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: kevarc on Dec 11, 2009, 05:27
Sorry to dig up an old post.

To be Safety, I agree you better have a thick skin or they will eat your alive.

To management you are the guy who is making them spend money and slow things down.

To the workers you are the guy telling they have to wear something or do something they do not want to.

You always have one joker who wants to know why he has to do something when OSHA may not state it clearly.  That is when your eyes roll, your eyelid twitches and then you fall back on the General Duty clause.

There are days when you feel like you are adult daycare.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Dec 11, 2009, 06:48
But it's a good job if you can get it :)
Some of y'all jes need ta keep on swangin' that thar meter, though.  It is sadly true that you can get pretty far (but no farther) with an RO-20 hanging off your shoulder even if you are still waiting for your first clue.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Chimera on Dec 12, 2009, 04:46
T Tarbox's comments would help explain why one almost never sees a safety person anywhere near the job - which would account for having to research an incident that happened two days ago.  Yanno, all that paperwork can be hard on the butt.

I'm not picking on you, T Tarbox.  I don't know if I've worked with you on the same job.  But I do know spotting the safety man on the job is almost as rare as spotting UFOs.  That might help explain why that lowly RP Tech with his RO-20 hanging from his shoulder seems to get stuck with enforcing the safety rules more often than not.  The safety guy must be busy advancing beyond that "but no farther" point in his career.

No hostilities towards anyone intended - just an observation from 30+ years on the job.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Dec 12, 2009, 08:40
These are rather astute observations.  The sorry truth is - especially in nuclear plants - that the money and resources are not allocated to the place where they do the most good (actually, to where they avert the greatest harm).
I'm a little spoiled in that I usually work on the turbine floor only.  I get to spend the majority of my time right where the work happens.  It is a luxury that most safety specialists do not have, and many do not appreciate.  While I get to dedicate my time to a smaller group who are all working in one place, my counterparts have hundreds of people working all over the site.
While there are RP's at hand at every work location to keep that 100 cpm of loose contamination off your ankle, there is one safety specialist tasked with supporting crews who are simultaneously working everywhere from the switch yard to the cavity to the intake to the S/G's.  They are spread pretty thin and can't always spend the time with their people that I can with mine.
There also seems to be a mentality among some companies that the site will provide the safety oversight so they don't even staff that position, or they add it as an additional responsibility for their ALARA staff.  Either way, they are making a mistake.
So, why do RP's end up carrying the ball for us so much?  Well, for one thing, you're there.  For another, you are pre-disposed to be aware of hazards and are compliance oriented.  Not to mention the fact that most of you are capable of the job we are doing because you are already doing it in one specialized area.
Out of the 40 Safety Specialists in my company, 13 of us are former RP Techs.  That "but no farther" point in your career is anywhere you choose to put it.  If your attitude is:

The Safety guys come in two flavors:  1) the burned-out looking to quietly cruise into retirement without ever again doing anything useful, and 2) busy-body hero wannabees too lame to actually get into the fire department.

After 2 years group 2 loses steam and merges into group 1.

Ponder deeply: Can I get passionate about chinstraps?  Will proper earplug use fulfill my purpose on earth?  Can my kids really be proud of daddy's new parking lot speedbump?

then that point is evident for all to see.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: MeterSwangin on Dec 13, 2009, 01:21
Out of the 40 Safety Specialists in my company, 13 of us are former RP Techs.  That "but no farther" point in your career is anywhere you choose to put it.  [/quote]

Safety guys are good people.  Just not into carrying the ball.  Or receiving, blocking, or snapping.  Or taping ankles on the sideline. 

Content in the 5th row yelling "blitz....blitz!."  Then out early before the traffic gets thick.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Dec 13, 2009, 01:00
Y'know what?  You're right.  I have worked at SONGS as an RP - with Chimera the last time, actually.  I gotta tell you that your assessment of their safety people just might be correct.  I don't know how their record has fared in the five plus years since then, but it was awful when I was there.
Maybe it isn't fair to lay all the blame at their feet, but if a site has people getting hurt so much, and the workforce (you) have characterized them the way that you do, then something must be wrong.
Even if they are smart, hard-working, dedicated, passionate people, they still seem to have failed at their primary job -- getting you on their team.  Why has that not happened?  Are they as apathetic as you say they are?  Is management handcuffing them, contradicting them, spreading them too thin, or what?
Lesson here for anyone wanting to be a safety professional:  You can NOT be everywhere, or even at the right place all of the time.  Your first priority is to get the workforce to think as you do about safety.  You need to motivate them to make the right decisions and to seek you out to help in that process.
So, instead of me banging on MeterSwangin for his bad attitude toward the safety staff, let me pose the question:  How did he get that attitude, and what would it take to change it?
MS, if you think you could do a better job, you're probably right.  But to do a better job than they do, you have to think differently from the way they do.  Yeah, if all they care about is chin straps and speed bumps, you would do well to not emulate them.  Just don't paint us all with the same brush, or judge us until you have tried to do our job.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: HydroDave63 on Dec 13, 2009, 02:33
Being spread too thin is definitely not the issue with the SONGS safety staff.  SONGS safety is very well staffed (in numbers) compared to their peers.  If they are not out in the field it is a matter of priorities and motivation. Priorities are set by the leadership.  Leadership is also responsible to provide motivation to those who lack it.

Would providing leadership involve leaving the large styrofoam building on the north side of site, or the donut-box shaped one just outside the PA?  :P
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: MeterSwangin on Dec 14, 2009, 12:37
At Palo Verde we had 3 Safety guys on days typical of the genre.  One was a former Security officer fixated on gloves and handrail use.  Utterly without a clue about confined space monitoring, fall restraint rules, or rigging safety.  Moe.

Larry the world's friendliest guy.  Walked around all day greeting people.  "How ya doin, Chief?"  Did absolutely nothing productive.  Several RPs had tried to get him interested in ctmt cleanliness and bump/trip hazards.  "How ya doin, Chief?"  What a goof.  Got one exactly like him working for Bechtel at San Onofre.

Curly was a turd.  Former RP, counting the days to retirement.  Laid low all day.  Hit him with a concern or issue and he fumed "line owns safety...you fix it!"  Nice.  Took him a week to get a gasket sampled for asbestos.  Job was done and gone before Curly got back with positive results.  Oh well.  Another week closer to retirement.

Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Mar 22, 2010, 09:38
Lets please keep it cool. But. Can you get passionate about rigging straps? I watched as a man with fluid leaking out of both ears was carried out of a CA on a stretcher.I dropped the ropes for the EMTs. This man ,with a wife and children, died because of a bad strap and a safety manager who said " I can see everything I need to see about safety from my office window". This is fact, I was there. This is not an epistemological debate, this is not about showing off intelect, this is about how we go about our jobs, how we affect each other, how we help ourselves and each other. Its not about saving souls but about saving fingers and eyes,lives. No matter how cliche it seams, safety is important. I very much appreciate the posts. I feel at my site safety is over programed. Its more about the posters and the stats, that to a degree we have lost focus on the job. All flash and no substance. How do I fix this at a site with 10,000 employees? MH
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: duke99301 on Mar 22, 2010, 11:26
Hum one thing I can tell you safety starts with you and your acts do you ever see the rp done in the safety brief? not unless they are told to go. will I been on both sides I been a house manager two times and many contracts with GE Westinghouse and Shaw, DZ and others . I worked hard to get out of the heard I been to many classes that sites pay for I never gone to collage so what I been in nukes since I was 18 years old I been safety on coal plants and gas plants and clean up sites .and it all comes to one thing management has to back the program. the site I am at now they back the program I am used to help review job plans.
I seen and been one a site where a mans died , a kid broke his back and seen guys fall.I had to do the write up for a21 year old kid lose a thumb.
I been turbine sites where many folks brings leave site for the bar at lunch and pack stuff for drug test.
when a rigger did  not check his rigging who fault is it? when the foreman give the brief and just drops the sign in sheet on the table and walks out where did the system fail?
nukes have a better safety program from what I have seen.
All workers must have a role in it . rules to live by are  must . how many of you wear sneakers in the can when the book calls for steel toed boots. safety starts with you.
 And anyone can stop a job. STAR.  self check. all the key words.
house keeping is big clean up after your self.
At palo verde a couple years ago RP had a SAM on a cart that was not made to hold the weight and they covered it with herculite around the base  so no one would see it . will we all make mistakes
use your fall protection do not take short cuts. and watch out for your friend.
every accident can be prevented . and safety starts with you.
I just seen a man let go for saying he seen something twice in one week that could have been prevented. and he took no action.
good luck be pro active.
all sites have good programs but you get  what you pay for.buddy of mine told me a long time ago when we were working alara I do not fly for 55, my rates gone up since then.
I think Beer court would agree with me safety starts with you.  we can give you the tools it is up to you to use them.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Mar 26, 2010, 09:04
I agree, most of us have the tools. Most of us have the basic desire not to get hurt.Most of us will evaluate a condition OR action and accept risk,possible outcomes vs.desired outcomes,up to some point were the possible outcome is to much. Each individual must decide for him/herself. But rather than a culture developing on its own through a collectivised will , I believe management has the broader reach and the responsibility to effect or influence the overall attitude towards safety. If you talk about BBS a lot and talk about the numbers and make observations part of you eval. and tie it to an annual raise then its all about BBS and not safety. You cannot crush someone for a mistake but through  thorough examination of human performance and motivation you can begin to establish a culture that values safety for its on sake. I don't care about the stats. I care about preventing you from getting hurt,overexposed,etc. Please forgive me, I'm a little rusty with expressing myself and I feel I'm beginning to drift. What have you seen that works? I do not wish only to question but to figure this out. I want to bring something back to the folks I work with. Am I making sense?  We are not running around killing each other at srs but we could be better.  MH
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Mar 26, 2010, 11:55
People have three competing motivational centers which control every decision, and the behavior which results from those decisions.

The body -- do it because it feels good.

The ego -- do it because it looks good.

The soul (or conscience) -- do it because it is good.

The effective manager eliminates the body and the ego from the process OR uses them to guide behavior in the desired direction.

It feels good to get the job over and get to the relaxation that comes after.  It feels bad to have to go all the way back to the tool crib to get the harness (correct tool, ladder, welding goggles, ... etc. ) that you should have brought to the job.  So, we encourage them to do it the right way the first time because shortcuts will inevitably result in more work because they won't be allowed.

It looks good to get done on schedule.  Refer to the do-over described above.  It looks bad to get scolded for cheating on the safety rules.  It looks bad to miss a scheduled completion time because you got sent back to get the right gear or had a job shut down for safety reasons.

Those who act on their conscience need no external stimulus to reshape their behavior.  We give them positive recognition and reward, but they don't really need it.

Anyone can be under the influence of any of the three motivational forces at any given time.  We reinforce safe behavior and react negatively to unsafe behavior.  That way, all three bases are covered.

The reinforcement, both positive and negative, must come from the leadership.  It doesn't work if the safety staff does all the right things and the management ignores or contradicts the message.  Managers are people too.  So their behavior has to be influenced as well.  We reward management for supporting safe work by giving them the schedule and budget successes that come from safe performance.  We give them negative reinforcement (condition reports, fines, work stoppages, bad performance reviews... etc.) when they fail to make safe decisions.

In any case, as long as we can make safe behavior easier, more efficient (meaning that they take fewer man-hours overall) cheaper, and more rewarding than unsafe behaviors, people at all levels will make safe choices that lead to safe behavior. 

Wearing a hardhat is never stylish or comfortable, for example.  People don't like wearing them.  But, if it is an ingrained habit, we wear them without a second thought.  We develop that habit because we were atn some point convinced that we were better off wearing them than not.  It's just that simple and just that complicated at the same time.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: co60slr on Mar 27, 2010, 09:55
That sounds like something that a freshman would read in Chapter 3 of a Psych 101 textbook used at any of 10,000 community colleges around the country.  While the three motivators listed may influence some decisions and therefore behaviors, the list is certainly not all-inclusive.

Here are a few scenarios that do not fit the b-s-e list of decision influencers – unfortunately there are many others.  

A laborer made a poor decision to enter a confined space without reading and understanding the entry permit, ensuring a confined space attendant was present, or verifying that the atmosphere was monitored for acceptable entry conditions.  This unsafe behavior resulted in a fatality.  Did he decide to enter the confined space because it felt good (body)?  No.  Because he thought it looked good (ego)?  No.  He certainly didn’t make the decision because it was good (conscience).  He entered the confined space because his boss told him to.  Neither individual had the training or knowledge to recognize right from wrong.

A traveling carpenter supporting a refueling outage was erecting scaffolding 35’ above the deck and although she was not protected from falling, she decided not to employ a fall protection system.  She had been properly trained and fully understood that the site procedure required her to use a fall protection system under these working conditions.  Why did she make this poor decision?   Not because it made her look good, feel good, or because it was good.   She made a poor decision to work unsafely because she needs money to feed her kids.  Her perception (and perception in this case is reality) that a female traveler who brought up safety issues would be penciled in on the first lay-off list was the foundation of her decision making process.
The two scenarios are somewhat simplified and from them I can make no causal analysis as to why the workers did what they did.   However, Scenario #1 suggests the supervisor is 100% accountable for the lack of safety.   What actions does management take at this hypothetical facility when a supervisor endangers his/her workers?   If nothing, than management is to blame.   When was the last time that facility's corporate office sent a VP to the site to question management on their safety culture shortcomings?   If never, than the CEO is to blame.   It's all about Leadership.

In Scenario #2, was there fall protection available and she consciously decided not to use it?   If so, she not only endangered her own life but the lives of her coworkers.  How will she be held accountable?   However...did she and her supervisor discuss the job, but not safety factors?   Is it difficult to check out the required fall protection at this facility?   Was she even trained on how to use all PPE required for her job?  Etc, etc.   

If ANY nuclear worker thinks that his/her job is in jeopardy if a safety concern is raised, then the General Manager of that facility is to blame, along with the culture that person has allowed to persist in that environment.   There are surely more problems in such a nuclear organization than the lack of fall protection.  Most nuclear organizations have programs in place to acknowledge anonymous workers and their concerns.  If not, there are always outside organizations willing to listen to a truckload of worker complaints.

   
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: co60slr on Mar 27, 2010, 12:57
The VP at DCPP participates in the investigation of recordables (house and contractor) and visits the site where the event occurred.  Other sites have the same level of oversight.
And my point is that the organizations that I have witnessed to have successful safety programs (i.e., Zero Deaths) are ones where senior management frequents job sites BEFORE the recordable.   If not on the jobsite, than I have heard their consistent message daily at meetings:  "Safety is #1".

I'll concede that there is no secret formula for this, other than top down leadership.   For those Safety Managers that do not have the support of their senior management, I salute you, sir/madam.   You have a difficult uphill road ahead.





Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Apr 05, 2010, 08:05
This also is my opinion. For management to say "we give you the tools,now its up to you", is just lip service. You have to get out in the field and reinforce the culture. It bothers me to use terms like safety culture, I hear it so much from management types, but it works. What bothers me more is to have management expectations come down like edicts and then get promptly ignored by line management. Now, to follow the rules to the letter,to the point where you begin to tediously repeat things , and folks begin to tune it out is not healthy either. But you can cover what needs to be covered succinctly. As an example,pre-plans/pre-job discussions: there are things you have to cover and often there are several crafts involved or there are multiple hazards to discuss.With us the pre plan is proceduralized. Not completely, but there are things you have to cover and check off that you did. Things like the rwp,relevant ops procedures, criticality guidelines if necessary,etc. I have heard management expectations, been in the same room with managers listening to this and nodding their heads,"this is what we expect you to do". Then they don't do it, or they do it for a while then it  goes away. A field presence can correct this. I believe the attitude in aggregate is set largely by top down management. This does not mean you have to swallow everything ,but it should bring down the recordables. And thats another subject,recordables vs. actually recorded.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Apr 05, 2010, 08:11
What I am after is : how is it done where you work,what do you think works better? I also think we can learn from each others  personal experiences. Also if you are a safety professional,what career paths are available?
This is not about telling the worst story like steam line ruptures or electrical arcs, but certainly do not hesitate to share. This is an attempt to bring safety a bit forward in thinking and discussion.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Chimera on Apr 07, 2010, 10:44
My point is that the reasons employees decide to behave unsafely are as varied as the employees themselves and the environment in which they work and cannot be lumped under the aforemention reasons (B-S-E).

Scenario 1 - blaming the supervisor does not bring the dead back to life.  The laborer behaved unsafely, I never said it was his fault.  The supervisor played a role, but ignorance was the real culprit.

Scenario 2   The carpenter chose to work unsafely, and yes, risk her life, because she thought to do otherwise would cost her money that was needed by her family..  Unfortunately, this happens too often.

BTW, neither scenario is hypothetical.  Simplified yes, but both certainly happened.

Also, The VP at DCPP participates in the investigation of recordables (house and contractor) and visits the site where the event occurred.  Other sites have the same level of oversight.

Your paragraph quoted above that begins with "Also, . . ." pretty much sums up my problems with most safety programs I've observed over the years.  "They visit the site where the event occurred."  I would much rather have the safety guy and/or his representatives, the site managers and even the Vice President visit those sites before the event occurrs.  We can preach in the pre-job meetings and hang all the posters we want but the real impact is when those guys are out there on the job site observing and leading by their own example.

I don't need some after-the-fact dude preaching to me.  Get in the mix with me and show me.  Stop me before I cut that corner while in the thick of the "battle" at the job site and it will stick with me longer and better.

Good judgement comes from bad situations which were usually caused by bad judgement.

Take off that tie.  Get off your collective butts.  Get out there on the job.  Preempt that next case of bad judgement and reinforce the "safety culture" you really want.

I like to consider myself as being fairly safety conscious.  However, I know that consciousness comes from both witnessing and being involved in scenarios that did not go as planned.  That is what I preach to my crew - both in the meetings and on the job - every day.  And, because I'm there involved in their work and leading with my own personal examples, they learn without having to experience the bad judgements that I went through.

Okay.  I'll get off my soap box now.

Mike
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: WTF on Apr 10, 2010, 08:32
Spot on. I am a safety manager for a drill shaft company. Our bigger jobs are installing foundation shafts for the SCR/FGD environmental projects at coal burners. We work in a at risk environment all day, every day. I have no safety pros under me, as I am the safety department. My time in the field is about 97%. The other 3% is the admin stuff, as I do not have any clerical help. WAAAAAA I would like some female companion! I couch workers, argue with management, and try to accommodate the client all day long. Just my presence keeps the workers thinking safety. Our crew is great, our RIR is zero, and our EMR is zero. Not bad for bring here for two years and working 6/12’s. Workers MUST  respect the safety department in order to work safe. Again, SPOT ON DUDE  8)
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: RDTroja on Apr 12, 2010, 10:49
Spot on. I am a safety manager for a drill shaft company. Our bigger jobs are installing foundation shafts for the SCR/FGD environmental projects at coal burners. We work in a at risk environment all day, every day. I have no safety pros under me, as I am the safety department. My time in the field is about 97%. The other 3% is the admin stuff, as I do not have any clerical help. WAAAAAA I would like some female companion! I couch workers, argue with management, and try to accommodate the client all day long. Just my presence keeps the workers thinking safety. Our crew is great, our RIR is zero, and our EMR is zero. Not bad for bring here for two years and working 6/12’s. Workers MUST  respect the safety department in order to work safe. Again, SPOT ON DUDE  8)

I just love a good Freudian slip.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Mike McFarlin on Apr 12, 2010, 12:17
Wonder what he really meant?
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Apr 23, 2010, 12:35
We just had an HPI audit from folks across the industry,nuclear that is, and I understand that commercial is using HPI a lot more than doe. Is this true? How about BBS? Please see HPI and BBS topics. Please post there.
The purpose of this forum topic is to describe the safety culture at the place where you work. What formal or informal tools are used? Also to share experiences and lessons learned. If you are a safety professional please describe possible carear paths and any training or education to get there, and what is the job ( and title) like.
All this being said please don't limit the discussion. Complain, warn, bragg, I don't care as long as you talk about safety. Make new topics if you want, but please post. What I see so far is very good.
I myself would like to know more about the math behind safety analysis, and what goes into a TSR or AB. I know a lot of work goes into it but I woulds like to know more specifically how it is done.
Thank you for your posts and though the subject is serious and often sounds like a cliche, please don't hesitate to add some humor.  MH
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on May 03, 2010, 01:09
Over 5900 views. Post,post and more post. See previous post.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on May 03, 2010, 01:22
If we were talking about gay safety,safety in the navy,or gay safety in the navy.Road tech vs.house tech safety.Womens safety,or transvestite house techs formerly in the navy that want to go on the road, I bet there would be more posts. I realize the subject is not as fun as a good complaint or a clever shot at someone, but you can still show off your intellect and add to the collection of information this site represents and make the community as a whole better. Sound good? Sound like bs? Help me out here. I know its a big world, I,ve been there. And I met a lot of bright people there, so post. If not registered then do so and post.
Why won't sharks eat Bruce? Professional courtesy. Just kidding, thought I would redirect for a second. I know, its an old lawyer joke but I like it. And I never met Bruce. Don't post about Bruce here please. Its 0130 on my third night into my shift and I am digressing rapidly. Breaking my own rule of not posting while  sleep deprived . MH
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: HydroDave63 on May 03, 2010, 10:37
Workers MUST  respect the safety department in order to work safe.

You WILL respect my auth-or-i-tah!

(http://www.poster.net/south-park/south-park-you-will-respect-my-authority-3700212.jpg)
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Chimera on May 06, 2010, 11:51
Workers MUST  respect the safety department in order to work safe. Again, SPOT ON DUDE  8)

I've stewed on this comment for a while, but I'm going to comment on it anyway.

Respecting the safety department has nothing to do with working safe.  Respecting the real and potential hazards in the workplace has everything to do with working safe.  If the safety department isn't out there in the workplace, they garner no respect - and deservedly so.  The "safety guy" on my current project is great at running off at the mouth but does nothing to reinforce safety or a safety culture.  What he does would be tantamount to me telling the workers they are in a contaminated area and they'd better put up a rope and some signs - and then walking away.

By the same token, I would have no reason to expect my crew to have any respect for me if I attempted to run the job from my desk and/or if I rushed in with my critiques after the fact.  They listen because I'm there with them.  I attempt to head off bad situations with whatever advice I can offer based on my own experiences in similar situations and my knowledge of the job(s) they're covering.  Additionally, I freely praise them for doing good work and exercising personal initiative - even if that initiative is exercised after first discussing the situation with me.  I trust their judgement and they trust mine only because we work together as a team.  Again, if I tried to do that while sitting on my butt in my office, they wouldn't listen or respond near as well - and I would have no good reason to expect them to.

I don't think it matters too much which "safety system" is used.  What does matter is that whatever that system is, it must be conscientiously applied in the field and continuously reinforced every day.  Waiting until someone slips and falls in an oil spill is not "safety".  Safety is being there to get the spill cleaned up before someone slips and falls . . . or loses their hearing or a finger or falls or starts a fire or runs into a scaffold pole or any number of the thousands of thinks that could occur every day on the job.  Once the workers start to see that, then they will begin to respect the safety department because they will realize that safety is really their job and not just their job title.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: RAD-GHOST on May 07, 2010, 01:07
I believe the street expression is...... "The Say'er vs. the Players"!

WTF, you got'z to quit drinking the Kool-Aid :o

RG!
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: kp88 on May 07, 2010, 04:05

I don't think it matters too much which "safety system" is used.  What does matter is that whatever that system is, it must be conscientiously applied in the field and continuously reinforced every day.

Agreed.  The moment the Safety Department utters the words "not required by OSHA" in response to a concern, the "safety system" loses a lot of credibility.  Nobody in Radiation Protection is running around saying that it's alright to pick up 4.9 Rem, even though it is allowed by the NRC.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on May 07, 2010, 10:06
That's a really good point.  When you think about it, radiation is the easiest hazard to handle from a risk perspective.  It is one of the few hazards where exposure can be mathematically correlated to risk -- even if the relationship is not linear.  You can measure exposure rates and cumulative exposure.  Therefore, you can anticipate, mitigate, and control the risk on any particular task.
There are other hazards, like noise, lead or asbestos, where you can do the same.  Maybe not as easily or in real-time like radiation.  In fact, other than radiation, the only exposure that can be measured with a survey meter and tracked with a dosimeter in real-time is noise.  Because it can be sensed, it is easier to control because workers can tell where it is, from where it is coming, when and where the levels change, and it has an annoyance factor which triggers protective action ont their part without prompting.  (Well, not in every case.  It's mind-boggling the times when you have to remind people to use ear plugs when it should be obvious.)
Obvious is the word I was looking for.  It seems that the more obvious an exposure to risk is, the less likely people are to protect themselves.
If you separate health hazards -- radiation, lead, asbestos, noise, ... etc. -- from injury hazards, you will see a definite split in the behaviors people use to protect themselves.  Even when both acute and chronic exposures are coming from the same source, or from different sources simultaneously, you'll see people taking the precautions to protect against the chronic and ignore the acute.  Take for example a painter on a ladder with a spray nozzle.  You'll see him wear a respirator to protect his lungs from the paint, but jump the ladder to move it without getting off.  Or, the guy doing a bulk chemical delivery in a full-body suit, respirator and face-shield, but takes a shortcut to disconnect his hose from the tank while he is climbing on top of it with no fall arrest equipment.
In bodily injury hazards the risk exposure needle is always either zero or pegged high.  Likewise, the cumulative exposure resets to zero at the end of the task.  It seems that it is harder to manage the higher-risk behaviors than those which are relatively lower but cumulative.
So, I'm going to use your analogy to influence behaviors.  Let's see how well that works.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: illegalsmile on May 07, 2010, 01:13
Agreed.  The moment the Safety Department utters the words "not required by OSHA" in response to a concern, the "safety system" loses a lot of credibility.  Nobody in Radiation Protection is running around saying that it's alright to pick up 4.9 Rem, even though it is allowed by the NRC.

The only reason dumber than that is "We've always done it that way..." ::)
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: retired nuke on May 07, 2010, 01:45
The only reason dumber than that is "We've always done it that way..." ::)

That's the phrase that raises my attention level - an immediate indicator that preplanning wasn't done, questioning attitude wasn't used, and peer checking failed.  :(

I do the hardhat / safety glasses / shoe police thing - but fall protection, permit required confined spaces and overhead work are where my eyes focus hard.... them issues will kill you... :o
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on May 07, 2010, 05:28
Oh!  That one gives me heart burn.  Even back in the Navy, when I wasa assigned to my third boat, I came up against a lot of unorthodox practices that were a problem to me (and later were a problem for the NPEB too) that everyone pulled out that tired old line to justify.  To this day, every time I hear it I go apoplectic.  Really, if "that's the way we've always done it " were a legitimate reason for anything we would be:

-heating our homes by burning lumps of peat
-plowing fields with mules
-throwing our excrement into the gutter (out the window)
-healing our ills with leeches
-writing with sharpened feather quills
-reading by candle light
-washing with lye soap
-churning our own butter
-doing laundry in a stream with a rock
-carrying water into the house in a bucket
-dueling with flintlock pistols because somebody said something we didn't like (smiting is so much more civilized)
-dueling with swords because pistols were never invented
-bathing weekly -- or never
-dying of old age at 40

There are a lot of things to be said for progress.  But, "that's the way we've always done it" isn't one of them.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on May 07, 2010, 06:39
Someone just reminded me that there are about 48 different hazardous chemicals or chemical compounds for which dosimeters are available.  So, you can survey the concentrations with Draeger tubes, hang a passive dosimeter on the workers' shirts, quantify the risk level and exposure to that risk.  Pretty much follows the same argument.  You can measure and track exposures to health hazards, but there is no meter to quantify the exposure to risk of someone who is exposed to a bodily-injury hazard.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on May 09, 2010, 08:13
Yeah, I get it.  You can measure just about anything.  My point, which seemed obvious to me before, but not so much anymore, is that immediate risk to life and limb cannot be quantified or tracked with numbers, therefore are not as highly regarded as risk by the workers.  The paradox is that while a worker will take measures to prevent his dosimeter from alarming, he will expose himself to a greater, more immediate risk without consideration for the consequences.  If it can kill you dead right now, you'll do it.  If it has a statistical probability of 0.00000000001 of increasing your probability off illness, you'll make me show you reports, permits, surveys, sample results, and measurement data and STILL claim that I'm hiding some information that could affect your health.

I have literally had a crew of nearly 100 people stop work because they were in a condenser and someone told them that Hydrazine is used in the feedwater that eventually finds its way into the turbine as steam and then into that same condenser.  Every one of them left the condenser and sat in their trailer until I explained to them the minute details of Hydrazine use in nuclear power plants.  Try to get a single one of them to wear a harness or even check the confined space permit for the ACTUAL hazards that affected them directly.  Not gonna happen.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: let-it-ride on May 10, 2010, 12:14
My experience with 'safety' is that even though it is talked about almost every day and having monthly safety meetings when everyone has a free lunch, it is only followed when there is no other choice. Mostly this is with the DOE. (a totally corrupt organization, in my view)
I was on a job when the safety person called a stop work because of safety concerns involving high levels of ammonia. The supervisor told the safety person to leave the area. Then called another safety person to get the results that he wanted so work could continue. This is only one example, and I can give many more when the people working for the DOE do what they are told. Mainly because the workers are 'locals' and will do what they are told to keep their job.
That also goes to the so called "RCT supervisors and RPM's. I worked at a site when both of them said they will do what they know is wrong to keep their job.
Hey,when you are making more than $2000 a week to just show up, why should they care what happens? They are there for a pay check. After all, nothing bad will happen, things ALWAYS get swept under the rug. It has been like this for years.
I know, I know, this isn't what many want to hear, but this is what goes on from the East coast to the West coast.
The bottom line is to get the job done because everyone that lives in the area hates you and expects you to make them feel safe and happy, because they want the area to be made like it was when no one was there.
Am I wrong??
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on May 24, 2010, 11:43
I agree to a degree. The percentage that will do the right thing regardless is small.We have a term where I work:"load the boat". It means to get as many people and levels of management involved with the decision so that responsability is spread. This is not the same as working safely or establishing a safety oriented work culture. But it does give you a little latitude to resist committing to some thing you know to be wrong or unsafe. A lot of what you describe is true. But here at SRS it is changing, however slowly. I was born here,my father worked here. I left and went on the road. When I first showed up here I was treated as an outsider. I took considerable pride in the fact that my work ethic and skill level was a bit different than the house techs. Any way, now I am thoroughly entrenched in the current culture and must do what I can to make it better, or rather reflect what I feel to be better. There is allways a bit of company line to be towed, but not at the expense of the health and well being of my coworkers and self or the adjacent community. After all , we are safety professionals and as such must behave with a minimum of regard to a work ethic. That being defined to some degree by the job title radiation protection,rad safety, health physics. Operations have to have the same regard to safety. I don't mean do as little as possible in regards to safety, but that in that our jobs are safety in nature a minimum consciousness of safety is inherent in performance of the job. To take a dose rate is at least self preservation.
We all so what we do as a job,for money. And so we obligate ourselves to the company to some degree. But there are a lot of resources available to protect us from pressure to compromise safety. First there is personal responsability. Failing that or if this leads to conflict with up line management,then see the code of federal regulations. First look at written, published company policy and procedure. These are based on CFR and stand on safety analysis and authorization basis's. Witch is another topic I wish someone would talk about. Probability, and safety analysis. My point is that you do not have to feel like your job is in jeopardy to defend the high ground. You just have to stand your ground and be able to explain your actions or inactions. Every one has stop work authority,theoretically. Use it. It wont make you popular but it may make the system better. Hopefully it wont come to that. Hopefully you can alter the course of work before the job starts.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 16, 2010, 07:59
Something new. Personnel decon by excision of flesh is still a viable option. One of the hazards of working with Pu.  If I sound flip, I am not. This occurred recently. It was done by a physician in a medical environment. This is a fact. And this is why safety is important,not some of the time, all of the time.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 21, 2010, 04:29
This is important. The other day a worker pierced his finger with a thin metal rod. The worker was wearing leather gloves,rubber gloves and cotton liners. Work was done in a glove box enclosure with very good ventilation. A count was done on the finger and a doctor cut out small pieces of flesh. More counts were done, the person placed on bioassey and released. The nuclide of concern was Pu239 and 238. Dont know about body burdon but there will likely be one.
Losing pieces of your body is not playing around.
How could this have been prevented?
There are a lot of factors that influence your behavior while you work. I have covered this type work previously and am very familiar.
Every one wants to get in ,get the job done , and get out. In the morning you want to get out for lunch. If you are being relieved you want to get things set up for the next shift. If its late at night ,after midnight ,you just want to make it through this purgatory like sleep deprived shift and go home. Or at least get a breakfast and a beer then go home. You are wearing two pair of everything plus an air supplied hood or a plastic suite. And leather gloves for sharps. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. You work at your on pace but you are working with several other people also working at their own pace, so the pace is modified. Plus some people are watching from a nearby air conditioned /heated office so their sense of reality is different from yours. Then your life outside work is a factor. All of these things influence what happens to you as you grab this wire and perform a task you have performed many times and suddenly you feel a poke in the finger and after a few seconds of denial you tell the rco and things proceed from there. You know everyone on site will know,the job will stop while an investigation occurs, and it will show up in the local papers a few days later.
Substitute,cavity decon,scaffold building, any of a number of jobs that we do every day and tell me all accidents are preventable.Tell me how.
I make observations,sometimes documented through BBS, sometimes not. I look at the human performance error precursors and recognise many factors that influence my behavior. But in the blink of an eye you reach for the wire and feel the stick, or you step over a pipe and find another under your foot. You hit your finger with a hammer.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: retired nuke on Jun 21, 2010, 09:54
Saw similar at RFETS using a sawzall in a glove box - just rubber gloves. We had to rad-transport the contaminated biohazard back to the site.

The biggest safety hazard is yourself - if your head isn't on what you are doing, you will get hurt....

Thanks for keeping us focused M/H
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 27, 2010, 08:42
When I work Safety... (And I was a Rad Tech too...) My limited 3 outage experiences are these:

With Shaw/Stone & Webster, as a "Safety Engineer" covering ~1,000 Craft Workers: In the field 75%-80% of the time was the expectation, with the rest of the time used to respond to people's safety concerns, do paperwork on the injuries and on the tests (lead, chromium, asbestos, sound, etc, etc... ), listen to peoples safety concerns and follow up on them, prepare the safety chat for the next shift, and work on the outage safety report.  Many of the ~1,000 craft workers do not work in containment/dry-well.  I was specifically instructed to limit my exposure to radiation, and to limit my inspections in those area to the required limits, and nothing additional.  i.e. Inspect scaffolding if I need to, inspect postings if I need to, confined space, energized equipment, etc, etc.... but no leisure inspections.

Same job, the expectation was that in high risk jobs, we would give 100% coverage, by rotating in several safety people.

I have worked as a "Safety Observer" for Bartlett at DC Cook.  The expectation is also ~80% of your time in the field, and to limit your exposure to radiation.  I would most definitely spend the first week of the outage in containment as people alluded to above, then mostly "disappear" from containment - spending most of my time outside of higher radiation areas, focusing on Aux Building work, and step off pad areas.  The reason is this:  With the constantly changing conditions at the BEGINNING and END of an outage, the risk for a safety injury is at the highest.  It is important that when everything is getting moved in and set up, that everything is set up in a safe configuration.  Once everyone (workers/supervisors/engineers/management, etc) is happy the the plant is in its safest configuration allowable, there is little need for 100% coverage in the radiation area, often a high radiation area.  I don't need to watch an RP at a control point in containment 100% of the time.  Seriously, I don't.  If the location is configured safely, why would I need to be there?

In addition to the beginning and end (if I'm still there at the end), I also go top to bottom in Containment once every FEW days.  I have to admit, I get weird looks, people wondering why a "Safety Guy" is in containment... (Not that he shouldn't be... just that they are not accustomed to seeing it.)  I take a camera from ALARA, and snap pictures of house keeping.  As in the middle of an outage, in containment -- that is the highest risk - it causes slips, trips, and falls.  As well as falling objects.

I know that my reply had not one word about NPUA.  All of the personal attacks on Rad techs, and Safety people, and Troy should be split off to another thread.  If we have any moderators left, please do this for me.

Sorry I could not move this the normal way.
This is what I am trying to get for this topic. You folks have a loooooooooooooot ,loot? lot of experience and knowledge. Please put it here.MH
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Rennhack on Jun 28, 2010, 06:00
Fowl! I've been censored! Where are my posts!




Edit: Safety
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 28, 2010, 07:20
Gone!  You made me moderate. I was cruel and heartless. Bam! Gone! Cut-off! But I did it safely. You must at least say the word safety to stay on topic.  Aaaah the heady feel of power.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 29, 2010, 01:36
Ive been trying to access this site http://nishasafety.org/
So far it does not work.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Rennhack on Jun 29, 2010, 02:24
Ive been trying to access this site http://nishasafety.org/
So far it does not work.

Try http://www.nisha.org/
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: retired nuke on Jun 29, 2010, 07:57
When I try them, they both take me to the same place.

and the links don't work...
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: HydroDave63 on Jun 29, 2010, 08:31
and the links don't work...

Ya mean MostlyHarmless has us tying off to links that don't work? That don't sound safe.... ;)
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jun 29, 2010, 08:52
I'll write a bbs on it. Error precursor: blind trust.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 23, 2010, 09:14
Went to a vendor demonstration for gloves the other day. My primary interest was puncture and cut resistance. Was shown the difference between a blunt object puncture and a sharp object puncture. With an extraordinary puncture resistant glove was subjected to a sharp it did well,unbelievably well. When subjected to a blunted object, it the object poked through with a bit of sustained pressure. I was quite surprised.A needle would not penetrate but the blunted end of a wire flag did. Leather gloves suffered the same fate with the flag. Makes you think about reliance on PPE. Every thing has a limit. Knowing the limit is the key.
I tested a pair of cut resistant gloves once and found that the back of the hand side was more cut resistant than the palm side,palm side being advertised as the cut resistant side
Sometimes its amazing how much difference something you dint think about can make. Like the surface you stand on. If you have ever had to stand in one place for a long time,you know how important a good pair of shoes are. Try a gell pad for the floor. It makes a good difference for your lower back,ankles and knees.
Now, since it has been hotter than the blazes of hell, or hotter than ten ba****ds for you Hunter S Thompson fans, lets discuss heat stress. I personally have left puke and sweat all over the country. Literally I have thrown up, and succumbed to heat stress in many places. I have worn ice vests and used plastic suites with expansion valves,fresh air hoses run through ice barrels( the hose running over hot asphalt and subsequently re heating the breathing air). I have not used anything that resircs cool(or warm) fluid. I have lost so much body fluid during the course of a shift that though I drink and drink I did not urinate the entire shift. I have pushed myself until I barely had enough to get back up the cavity ladder. I have sprayed the pressure washer up to let the cool water run off the plastics to carry away heat. I have managed heat wisely and foolishly. Wisely feels much better. I have found that heat stress is self managed allmost everywhere I have been. It is always discussed, but the general rule I have seen is be your own best judge.
Anyone care to add to the topic?
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 24, 2010, 10:05
Ultimately the topic is safety. Heat stress was the last thing I mentioned, also there is PPE,gloves specifically,and foot comfort. If you want to discuss something else choose a topic.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 30, 2010, 02:00
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/ Here is a nice web site filled with info about heatstress. Heat stress is a serious concern right now. 100F right now. Any one doing any work in temps were heat stress could be a problem should know the symptoms.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 30, 2010, 02:01
http://www.50degree.com/files_custom/8832_1740.pdf     more on heat stress.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 30, 2010, 02:08
I'm looking for a web site that evaluates and compares different types of ppe used to prevent heat stress. If you know of one or find one or if you have experience with or know about ppe for heat stress please post it here.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Rennhack on Jul 30, 2010, 03:02
Ever feel like you are talking to yourself?
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 30, 2010, 04:19
It does ,and thats unfortunate. What I see everyday and what I have seen make me think its a worth while topic. I thought the safety professionals would be more interested. But alas and alack. Maybe I could liven it up with my personal stupidity events, or talk about safe snake handling practices: I captured a snake in my facility the other night. I do get a few nibbles every now and again. I know people read the posts,if nothing else for the overwhelming prose. And there is the occasional spelling corrector or the person like above who only wants to make a (emoticon for intelligent donkey) comment but really has nothing to add. Theres nothing that cant be ignored until it effects you personally. Sometimes its fun but lately I hear nothing but Eccs. Sounds like bad lyrics from a song.   Beuler...Beuler....Ben Stine reading war and peace. But I get an E (little e) for effort.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 30, 2010, 08:46
What I am after is : how is it done where you work,what do you think works better? I also think we can learn from each others  personal experiences. Also if you are a safety professional,what career paths are available?
This is not about telling the worst story like steam line ruptures or electrical arcs, but certainly do not hesitate to share. This is an attempt to bring safety a bit forward in thinking and discussion.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: mostlyharmless on Jul 31, 2010, 02:25
The other day I was at the beach. People began pointing toward the water and I got up to investigate. I saw what I thought was a child with light blue swimmies being born by the tide  out and down the coast.
While the park rangers on their atv's notified the rescue squad someone from the beach with an inflatable tube swam out and brought the person in, and there was much rejoicing. Turns out what I thought was  an was an adult man app.30years old and in very good shape, I mean all muscled up( not bulky) and low body fat. He was holding on to a blow up noodle.
One minute you're floating along dragging your toes in the sand and life is great: next thing you know you're way off shore  terrified for your life clinging to a child's blow up noodle. Meanwhile someone  on another child's blow up toy is swimming out to your rescue . After it was all over, except the poor mans humiliation, the rescue squad shows up.
The moral is: dont overrely on your tools,if you cant swim stay in the shallows ,it gets deep fast sometimes,even if you think you're a good swimmer,pay attention. Most important,pay attention.
This is not only about swimming.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Hondo on Nov 30, 2010, 10:39
MeterSwangin,

It seems like you have all the bases covered. He three safety guys you mentioned –

The nice guy – you don’t like him because he apparently tries to develop a rapport with the craft.

The conscientious guy who makes corrections – you don’t like him because he apparently is DOING his job, (at very least part of it, probably much more than you’d care to admit).

The office/paperwork guy – gee, RPs have NO administrative stuff that MUST be done – maybe you were passes over for this type of position?

Safety guys aren’t into carrying the ball? Really? BeerCourt has that answered pretty well – as a safety professional, you are often totally alone – the very people who hired you will turn on you if you – even ever-so-professionally and tactfully – stand up for what is right.

The “burnout” quip – yeah, right.

We often remember the ignorant cop who wrote us a citation (regardless of whether we were in the wrong or not), We rapidly forget the cop who stopped on a rainy night to change a flat for an elderly motorist.  That’s human nature, sadly.

I encountered a HUGELY ignorant female RP who threw a SCREAMING fit at us because a scaffold in containment – that was properly yellow tagged, dated and signed off on by a competent person at the beginning of the shift and was NOT anywhere near where our company/employees were working – was lacking a toeboard. She did not understand that 29 CFR Parts 1910 & 1926 do not prohibit the tagging of scaffolds that may be worked on and are missing a component such as a toeboard provided they are so tagged, inspected and signed off on by said competent person. She brought a copy of some pages of the reg into he safety meeting waved them around, and shrilly shrieked about “OSHA says toeboards SHALL be affixed.”
She was rapidly instructed by the project manager, he civil superintendent and he scaffold supervisor on the tag system. She shrank, shriveled and shut up – thank goodness.

One of many such encounters with RPs.

Why is it like his? Is it because RP/HPs don’t typically get paid as much as safety operators? Is it because RP/HPs sometimes double as safety on some jobs when full time safety operators are not hired and hay are upset when safety people ARE hired?
Who knows – and I don’t care.

Now, the “not required by OSHA” snivel – I’ve had people whine they wanted GRAPE flavored sports drink, NOT lemon-lime. I’ve had people snot about not liking the safety glasses (they wanted something “fashionable”). I’ve had people screamingly demand bifocal (reader) safety glasses – again, safety should not order equipment. However, I ask these last bifocal tantrum throwers if they came to work unprepared to do their assigned work. If the company wants to buy readers, so be it – not my responsibility, not my job.

-When I set up a job, I stipulate that the safety department does NOT order, inventory, select or issue equipment – and that ESPECIALLY includes hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc – THAT IS EQUIPMENT.

You want equipment, (including safety glasses or gloves?); I’ll show you where the tool room is if you don’t know where it is.

Grape kool-aid, (along with pink lens safety glasses, lilac scented commode water and Midol in the lunch/break area are, (drum roll), NOT…… REQUIRED BY OSHA!

Don’t like it?  So sad, too bad – now get back to your assigned work area and get [back] to work.

This is not PC, but here goes – RPs make poor choices to be safety operators. And – union people should NEVER be hired to do safety. The latter constitutes a huge conflict of interest.

It is the crew foreman’s responsibility to make the work area ready and safe for their crew to go to work in. I’ve been called by a foreman a half mile away – I walked over there and he pointed to a 3 foot 2” X 4” laying on the walking surface and told me – profanely, “do you f*****g job for once and pick that up!”

We got that straight in short order.

The finest, safest job I was ever on was a non union job in the South.

So, Mr. MeterSwangin, (do you keep a Schwarzenegger poster taped on your bedroom ceiling?), grow up!






Title: Re: Safety
Post by: duke99301 on Nov 30, 2010, 06:01
my god the last post is so right I agree . I been in safety the last 20 years, even though I did alara a few times. Money was to good to pass on. A safety person has to to look at a lot of things and decide what is the problem and suggest how to fix it. safety starts with you and the pre job  birefs, I have made it point in my last site report all workers need to attend the pre job briefs thats includes rad techs. so they understand what the work is. I work a lot of project oversite and the most problems I see is when they take someone out of the craft do to having and brand new osha card and that person can do it. there is a lot of paper work knowing the plant procedures and nowing who you are working with. I have old friends in HP ask me how to get over to safety and I tell them they need to know someone. Safety is a trade just like anything else takes a long time to learn to deal with the postion and the people.
one thing other workers forget we are all just s support group for the outage or job.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: redline on Dec 01, 2010, 07:43
my god the last post is so right I agree . I been in safety the last 20 years, even though I did alara a few times. Money was to good to pass on. A safety person has to to look at a lot of things and decide what is the problem and suggest how to fix it. safety starts with you and the pre job  birefs, I have made it point in my last site report all workers need to attend the pre job briefs thats includes rad techs. so they understand what the work is. I work a lot of project oversite and the most problems I see is when they take someone out of the craft do to having and brand new osha card and that person can do it. there is a lot of paper work knowing the plant procedures and nowing who you are working with. I have old friends in HP ask me how to get over to safety and I tell them they need to know someone. Safety is a trade just like anything else takes a long time to learn to deal with the postion and the people.
one thing other workers forget we are all just s support group for the outage or job.


im hopin you get anybody to proof read your reportses ;)
Title: Safety
Post by: JeremyCantrell on Mar 11, 2011, 10:43
Hi,

Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

I've slightly succumb to the dark side again and will find myself once again working at a nuke plant.
Although in the past, I was a Carpenter/Scaffold Builder/Millwright..I'm now One of these "Evil" Safety Professionals.

My mainstay has been Wind Projects for Siemens and other Wind Companies for the last few years...but during the "offseason" I will start filling in time with the fossil side of the house.

I'm surprised what a few years can bring with changes around here...way back when BeerCourt was a Jr. Tech :P...but NuclearNascar was a Mod then as well...so not everything changes.

I look forward to shotting problem,s across this "council of many" when needed.

Now to go persue the "watts Bar" housing area.


Jeremy
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Sun Dog on Mar 12, 2011, 04:24
Hi,

Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

I've slightly succumb to the dark side again and will find myself once again working at a nuke plant.
Although in the past, I was a Carpenter/Scaffold Builder/Millwright..I'm now One of these "Evil" Safety Professionals.

My mainstay has been Wind Projects for Siemens and other Wind Companies for the last few years...but during the "offseason" I will start filling in time with the fossil side of the house.

I'm surprised what a few years can bring with changes around here...way back when BeerCourt was a Jr. Tech :P...but NuclearNascar was a Mod then as well...so not everything changes.

I look forward to shotting problem,s across this "council of many" when needed.

Now to go persue the "watts Bar" housing area.


Jeremy

Please share your recipe for successfully transitioning from scaffold builder to Safety Professional.  Many RP Techs and craftsmen are looking to get into safety and away from working for a living.

Title: Re: Safety
Post by: JeremyCantrell on Mar 15, 2011, 03:00
Sun Dog,

I'm afraid it was mainly Luck of the Draw.
I was finding work slow and applied for a "part time" filler job at a Wind Project in Lena, IL.

I was Safety  for the General contractor for that project.
Not long after I got a call from a friend of a friend asking if I wanted to do Wind Power Safety.

I went to work for a firm out of New York, working on Siemens Wind projects as HSE.
I've completed 3 wind farms for Siemens.
Doing safety at Watts Bar will be for Siemens again...with my short background in Nukes (8 outages?) I at can at least spell "Rad" and know what a becquerel is.

Keep trying to grab as many certs/training/college as possible. We roughnecks tend to overlook that sort of thing.
Get good on computers i.e. MS Office programs especially.

Most importantly, keep up a good network of friends and acquaintances.
If you ever tell somebody you'll be there at 5am on Friday...be there at 4:30.

Safety is a hard career choice, you have to be good at making "we" hard headed crafts think that being safe was our idea and not the safety guys.
It's comparable to the FBI going into the Mob to arrest them armed with water balloons, if you do not have the patience, understanding, and a thick skin...you won't make it.

On another note...grab a mop!
They are always looking for Deconners.
Many, Many transitioned to Rad Tech from Decon.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Rennhack on Mar 15, 2011, 05:45
Some of you might remember me from years back  on Nukeworker as "DainJer".

We've missed you.  Send me an email or call me when you get a chance.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Mar 15, 2011, 08:14
Welcome back, I guess you have been gone long enough that you don't realize that Sun Dog is being sarcastic.  Which is why I'm not going to extend this invitation to him at the present moment.
Send me a resume if you want.
PM me if you're interested and I'll give you the email address.

Rennhack, that goes for you too.  Couldn't hurt.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: hrdwrkndgs on Mar 15, 2011, 08:49
Jeremy,
     Thanks for sharing your path in to the safety side of the business.  I am currently pursuing a degree in occupational safety and hope to move over to that side in the near future myself.  My decision has nothing to do with looking for a free ride just some thing I have become very interested in and passionate about over the years.  Best to you...
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Sun Dog on Mar 15, 2011, 09:20

Sun Dog is being sarcastic.


Not really.  My aim was to have him explain how he successfully changed careers...something that many NW members aim to do.  Thankfully, he wasn't shy or cynical and he provided some insight that helped at least one person.


Jeremy,
     Thanks for sharing your path in to the safety side of the business.  


Oh, and don't worry, I probably would not have accepted the invite (at the present moment).


I'm not going to extend this invitation to him at the present moment.


But...if you'd like, I'll take a look at your resume and see if there is somewhere I can place you.  Send me a PM if you are interested.

Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Mar 15, 2011, 09:39
.... looking to get into safety and away from working for a living.

Not sarcastic?  Okay, if you say so.

My last month as an RP, I read the entire NYT Bestseller List while on the clock and still outworked 75% of the other techs on my shift. (which was too easy to do)

Haven't read more than a news article at work in the 7 years since. 
I think that most of those RP's have already found a way to avoid working for a living.  the rest are carrying them.

The recipe is simple:  Take some responsibility for the work you do and the results thereof, have a commitment to your work, and stop looking at short-term opportunities when long-term growth is right in front of you.  If you can honestly say that you are one of the first people they call when they need the job done right, then PM me and I'll give you the same invitation.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Mar 16, 2011, 07:55
I would almost prefer to work with the kids from wondertech university.  They haven't yet learned the lazy bad habits that we learned.

RP's are underpaid, undervalued and underpopulated.  BUT, they respond to that by giving as little as possible in return - sort of matching the effort to the reward because the reward won't match the effort.

It took an epiphany for me to stop being like the people who trained me.  Those folks were great techs, but were getting screwed like the techs are still getting screwed.  They developed a "stick it to the man" attitude because of it.

Unfortunately, that only perpetuated the cycle.  Management wouldn't break the cycle by rewarding top performers, and the techs wouldn't break the cycle by performing at their highest level.

Then, I met some techs who just did their best despite the fact that they were paid the same as the rest.  They were happier in their jobs - even if under compensated.  I have done my best to hire those people.  The real difference between being an RP and a Safety Specialist is that there are more than one hazard to deal with, and only one person per shift to deal with them all.

I don't need heroes - just people who want to do their job as well as they can.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: JeremyCantrell on Mar 16, 2011, 04:29
I'll tell you this, I spent a few days crawling around on the floor building scaffold on the snubber's at Quad Cities, and was on the crew that built scaffolding to repair the polar crane at Clinton.
I lived in the condenser at Byron for two outages.
I built scaffold for hydro lasing in the torus at Clinton.
I lost a new pair of Red Wing boots at Dresden to being crapped up and not cleanable. (that tech didn't think the sticky pads worked well).

I hope this gives me some insight into the mindset of workers to allow me to connect.

I'm a true believer in behavior based safety.
As a Safety Professional...if you cannot convince them to keep those Safety glasses on after you walk away, your done before you start.

Radiation workers as a whole have a 1000X better attitude towards safety than most Wind Power employees.
That's where all the Cowboys moved to!

With that said, I only ask for a return of the respect I show in any given situation.

People worry entirely to much about how much the other "person" is or isn't working.
If we all go home at night knowing we did our best, nobody is lacking.

I won't go into good/bad Rad Techs..I don't remember enough names vs. nicknames on here :)


Title: Re: Safety
Post by: hrdwrkndgs on Mar 16, 2011, 05:14
  "The real difference between being an RP and a Safety Specialist is that there are more than one hazard to deal with, and only one person per shift to deal with them all"

  I really have to agree with that....  Over the years I've had the pleasure to work with some really great HP and decon techs and I believe both are under paid and under valued.  I've also worked with some and let's just say they had a pulse...  The same goes for all work groups including safety.  Still have a hard time with the way they preach safety, safety, safety and only bring in one safety specialist for 300 plus workers.  I know safety is everybody's job but it just doesn't add up to me.  (Just my opinion)
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Sun Dog on Mar 17, 2011, 09:28

I'm a true believer in behavior based safety.


BBS is awesome in the sterile world of the classroom or in the rhetoric of those who profit most from it (DuPont) or in the minds of those who drink their kool-aid.  But, BBS is one B too many when you are dealing with a migrant work force that is not acclimated to the culture of the long-term staff.  Ramp up to ramp down (0 - 650 - 0 employees) in less than 6-weeks leaves BBS out of the equation for a supplemental outage work force.

Of course, I may be right.

Edit:  mostlyharmless bailed too early...this is just warming up.

Title: Re: Safety
Post by: OldHP on Mar 17, 2011, 10:46
BBS is awesome in the sterile world of the classroom or in the rhetoric of those who profit most from it (DuPont) or in the minds of those who drink their kool-aid. 

I'll agree if the up-front training does not contain the right material to "tame the cowboys".  However, when the situation is presented "from the get go" most folks understand and will respond.  I've found that folks that once were cowboys will come to you and report or ask for assistance once they realize that it their well-being that you are concerned about.

Then again, there are those that are looking for STD!
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Sun Dog on Mar 18, 2011, 09:28
I'll agree if the up-front training does not contain the right material to "tame the cowboys".  However, when the situation is presented "from the get go" most folks understand and will respond.  I've found that folks that once were cowboys will come to you and report or ask for assistance once they realize that it their well-being that you are concerned about.

Then again, there are those that are looking for STD!

Perhaps.  In Shangri-La we would be given ample time and a huge budget and stand a chance at convincing 650 migrant workers that the program is in their best interest, and not just financially.

The reality is, in the outage world of commercial power, we hire several hundred people a few days before we expect them to be turning a wrench, herd them through a day or two of in-processing and CBT, upgrade a few to MM because they can read and write or are kin to the BA (with an extra buck or two an hour for their troubles), and turn them loose in the plant.  A few weeks later we lay two checks in their hand and ask them to come back in 18-months.  Some will.  Many will not.  

A significant challege is the lack of consistency between the programs, procedures, and government standards among the various sites, utilities, contractors, vendors, cities and states.  The risk is typically the same, the approach to dealing with the risk can be vastly different.  Heck, even at the same site the program may be significantly different just next month when the flavor changes.

If anyone has figured out how to successfully instill a sense of ownership and commitment to an Industrial Safety Program to a diverse group of employees that are on-site for 4 to 6 weeks every 18-months they better patent it today.
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: hrdwrkndgs on Mar 18, 2011, 07:08
Have talked to Bartlett several times about safety positions but they don't seem to have a lot in that field.  Anyone have any info on who specializes in placing safety personnel.  Any info would be greatly appreciated...
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: Already Gone on Mar 18, 2011, 07:33
Jackpot!
I happen to place Safety Professionals for my daily bread.
PM me and I'll give you an email address to send your resume.

Oh, BTW, I really would offer Sun Dog the same courtesy.  Actually, I already have.  His "sarcasm" on this thread turns out to be reverse sarcasm.  Just thought I'd clear that up.
Anybody else looking for some work in the near future?

This is the last time I am going to extend this offer.  Not because I want to cut off opportunities, but I'm getting dangerously close to crossing the line from networking into the unpaid advertising realm.  If I could talk my boss into letting me pay to post jobs here, I would do it.  But for now, I'm only asking for people who are interested to contact me.  Details will be discussed off the board. 
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: hrdwrkndgs on Mar 19, 2011, 07:41
PM Sent  I think?
Thanks
Title: Re: Safety
Post by: JeremyCantrell on May 06, 2011, 09:20
Already Gone scared everyone off trying to give them jobs :)

Well...a successful TVA outage up until the day I left.
I never touched a dosimeter....had a single 1st aid as the only blip on a nearly perfect screen.

Ahhh...Life on the turbine deck.

If any of you RP were at WBN..I sympathize, that side of the house had a tough outage.
218 hrs behind is never fun.
Lucky for them Chaos=Cash.

Title: Re: Safety
Post by: curtis on Jun 12, 2012, 11:29
I made the jump from RP to Industrial Hygiene and Safety. Talk about a major learning curve in IH. The job looks easy on the surface, but you have to learn all the chemicals and what could break down to after years in storage. If the work is done right on the front end of a job it looks easy for the Safety or IH Rep, but it takes a lot of effort on the front end. And God forbid if even the unimaginable that you planned for happens, the paperwork trail and meetings are endless. I love the job I do now but there are days when I miss the days of just picking up my meters and going to work without having to deal with upper management all the time that find you as the necessary evil required by contract and law.