Hazards in our workplace are a fact of life. No matter what you do, there will always be a need for personal protective equipment (PPE). Some of the various types of hazards that you could face are eye, hand, noise, and chemical hazards. It is really up to you to use or not use your PPE—this is not a decision anyone else can make for you.

Our Supervisors and peers will provide safety briefings, peer-checks and help identify the PPE needs, but you must make the conscious decision to get on-board with the program and “MAKE IT PERSONAL”. If you choose not to, your attitude may be the biggest hazard of all.

Our focus in this week’s newsletter is on PPE and more specifically Hand Safety. Let’s all avoid loosing a digit to a bad decision.

Let’s Get Focused

There are times when you hear something so often that it stops registering. I often feel our industry does this when it comes to Safety. We hear about Safety at all our daily pre-job briefs, during all hands meeting, and during any other meetings we may attend during the day. Also, it’s our number 1 core value.

However, we can’t take safety for granted. We must take heed to always understand the safety aspects of every task we are performing. We have to take in consideration every day how important Safety is and what Safety means to us.

Safety means the following to me, I hope you agree:

Complete understanding of your work. Knowledge of every step that must be taken. The realization that mistakes could be costly to you and the company.

Good judgment. Never relying on luck. Being prepared to cope with unexpected situations. Being alert when performing your daily tasks. Nothing is routine.

Consideration for the family that depends on you. For the company that employs you. For your own welfare.

Let’s Get Focused (continued)

Remembering the safety rules and applying them EVERY MINUTE when you are on the job.

A single risk might mean an accident from which you might never recover.

We must remember that safety is not about statistics or paperwork, but about people. A safety event can change lives in a blink of an eye. We all have heard of Safety operating experiences about the other person getting hurt. No one wants to get hurt. The recognition of how important safety is should come before an injury occurs. I lot of times it comes after an injury.

Focus on the task at hand. Focus on Safety.

Remember, Safety is not a waste of time, unless you want to waste your life.

Stay Safe

Zach TaylorVice PresidentBHI Center of Excellence

Diversity Quote

“Diversity in the world is a basic characteristic of human society, and also the key condition for a lively and dynamic world as we see today.”

Jinato Hu

Hand Protection

Gloves protect our hands from all sorts of potential hazards:

• Chemical• Biological• Rough edges• Sharp objects• Pinch points• Hot surfaces

These are just a few examples. While there are several types of hand related hazards, there are also several different types of hand protection that can be used to protect us from the hazards we may encounter.

Each type of hand protection is designed to provide a specific type of protection. In order to select there right hand protection for the job, it is important that we know the hazards we are up against.

“Why worry about your hands?”

Have you every tried using your less dominant hand to perform your daily functions—especially those that require a little dexterity. Unless it’s something that you have practiced or you are one of the few that is ambidextrous, most of us are going to find it a slow and focused set of actions or maybe even extremely difficult.

We don’t worry about our hands just because it would be hard without them, but more because it doesn’t have to be hard if we just protect them. Most people really learn to appreciate their hands after they have experienced an injury that disables them. Our goal is to create this level of appreciation without the actual learning experience of having an injury.

Wear Your Gloves

While no glove can protect against a hammer strike, a study by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety shows that wearing gloves lowers the risk of acute occupational hand injuries by 60 to 70 percent. Using gloves at all times helps reduce the inevitable wounds caused by sharp or unfinished edges and tight squeezes involved in hands on work.

Avoid the “Line of Fire”

Never put your hands or fingers on loads being moved mechanically without watching for pinch-points and other potential hand hazards.

Use tools to avoid “line of fire” hazards. Wear the appropriate gloves when there is exposure to hazards that could produce cuts, scrapes or exposure to biological and/or chemical hazards that could produce injuries or skin diseases.

Most people would agree that using gloves while working with hand and power tools sometimes makes the job more difficult. Gloves are bulky and stiff, which does not allow someone the dexterity to perform tasks as precise or accurate.

A good example is using stationary grinding wheels to grind small objects. Guards are positioned with small gaps between the wheel and the guard. If you are using leather gloves and grinding on small objects there is potential for the glove to get caught between the wheel and the guard.

Gloves and safety glasses are very important for conducting this task because of the hazards. Make sure that gloves are fitted properly; we have many different styles and sizes available. Use holding tools such as vice grips to remove hands from the danger zone or use alternative methods, such as a vice and hand grinder, to complete the task.

Be Alert

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 250,000 serious injuries to fingers, hands and wrists occur every year in private industry alone, with around 8,000 of those being amputations.

Many people do not take the necessary care to adequately protect hands and arms from hazards. Lack of attention and human error are responsible for most hand, finger, wrist and lower arm injuries.

People generally have one dominant hand and may carelessly place the non-dominant hand in harm’s way while performing tasks. Many injuries occur to these “off-hands” when they are inadvertently placed or rested in a hazardous location.

In addition to direct exposures, hazard assessments can help identify these secondary exposures and appropriate safeguards. However, even with physical safeguards in place, the best way to protect your hands and arms is to maintain a high level of awareness and attention to dangers that could cause permanent injury such as amputation.

Where do We want to Be?

Over time we have identified the importance of staying Fully Conscious at all times. We have used examples from other professions to demonstrate what fully conscious looks like.

Using key examples from past experience and our own Operating Experiences (OE) are tools that we have available to build us up to a fully conscious state.

Being Fully Conscious means that we are demonstrating the effective behaviors to improve our safety by learning from each of these events. Establishing corrective actions to help prevent but more importantly knowing that It Can Happen. Knowing and looking for the precursors for these events is Full Consciousness.

Being Fully Conscious is not the only condition we need to save us from the potential error likely situations or even an accident as we work.

Being Fully Conscious while we are in our Intellectual Center is where we need to be. We can be conscious of what is going on and around in our work area but if we fail to act on this and to reallythink about before we move forward all this means is we saw the hazardous situation and failed to take any type of action to preventan event from occurring.

So, where we need to be is in a Fully Conscious and Intellectual state of mind at all times. We need to be looking, observing, taking note and taking action.

On October 5th, Stanley Rusinek was supporting RP efforts at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant when he was observed demonstrating an exceptional questioning attitude, individual and departmental ownership of Exposure Reduction Concepts (ALARA).

Stanley is an exceptional employee, who constantly brings added value to my Transfer Canal Project.” - Seth Graham

During the observation, Stanley demonstrated an exceptional questioning attitude, regarding the Radiological Control Instructions pertaining to ALPHA Contamination controls by challenging the current controls in place and seeking a higher standard. By utilizing his "HU Tools" and referencing his RP Continued Training, Stanley was engaged and "thinking outside the box".

Great Job Stanley.

While observing workers unbolt fasteners on the Incore Instrumentation (ICI) Holding Frame at Palo Verde, Izzy Devine displayed rigor in performing his job as an RP.

One of the worker’s back was rubbing on a highly contaminated part of the frame while he did his work. Izzy stopped the worker, involved the SR members of his crew, and together they performed a survey of the worker resulting in two discreet particles on the outside of the protective clothing of the individual. The timeliness of these actions prevented the contamination from passing through the protective clothing of the individual which would have caused the first Personnel Contamination Event (PCE) of 3R17. Good job Izzy and the rest of the RP staff involved in this evolution of the outage!

Good catch Izzy Devine

On October 8th while removing additional insulation from below the Unit 3 Steam Generator #1 primary hot leg man way at Palo Verde, RP Tech Debbie Reynolds took a smear survey of the first insulation panel that was removed and encountered higher than expected contamination levels.

Debbie realized that the work group was not wearing the proper protective clothing to continue the job. She stopped the work and contacted her leader. Upon further investigation it was identified that the cause may be coming from the steam generator #1 hot leg man way. The area was posted and controlled as a High Contamination area. Unit 3 containment coordinator notified, OCC RP Manager notified and the site boric acid engineer notified.

Great Job Debbie!

Event Summary:

A BWB rigger seconded to the RNP Maintenance plant was working with a peer to slide a 2’x3’, 128lb steel plate underneath two I-beams. This task required an awkward body position and involved a twisting motion; it was during this movement when a discomfort was felt in the left shoulder. This task was part of an evolution to close a hatch in the reactor building and is only performed during outages.

Why is this significant?

The employee experienced significant pain which required off-site medical treatment, including the injection of anti-inflammatory medications. All accidents are preventable, in this case, barriers failed at the individual and organizational level.

How could this have been prevented?

• Risk Perception—Unfortunately, it took an injury for all to agree moving this plate by hand is a hazard. This condition was tolerated by all involved (related to the next bullet).

• “That’s they way we always have done it” - This activity is only performed during outages. There is a mentality that it is hard, but we have always just gotten it done. No one stopped to consider an alternative.

Immediate Corrective Actions

• Crew stand down to discuss ergonomics• Obtained proper equipment for moving the plate• Site wide message to challenge those actions/conditions that have been previously tolerated• Publish a safety hotline number to report challenging conditions or activities that Safety

Professionals could immediately help address

What are the lessons learned?

For Leadership: Understand the work you are asking your people to perform. Are you relying on past experience to ensure the work is performed injury free, or have you put your eyes on it?

For the Individual: Challenge, “This is the way we have always done it”. Don’t take what you are asked to do at face value. Demonstrate your skills, knowledge and experience, it will be appreciated.