Why are we talking about safety

1
Why are we talking about safety?

• Roger told me to.
• We want you to be safe!
• Nothing we do here is worth anyone getting hurt!!
• SLAC just had a very bad experience.
• Severe electrical injury
• Investigation totally blasted the labs safety
  policies
• Still not back in operation.
• We dont want OSHA to regulate us.
• Must rank on top 10 of government laboratories

2
Reportable Injuries

• An injury is reportable if
• It requires a medical procedure, like sutures
• It requires any prescription medication
  (including prescription strength versions of OTC
  drugs)
• Any work time is lost or restricted
• Reportable is reportable
• No accounting for severity
• No accounting for whether or not any mistakes
  were made or rules broken.
• Figure of merit
• Reportable injuries per 200,000 man hours (100
  man years).
• Goal 1 in FY05, .75 in FY06
• For our department, thats on injury per 3 (4)
  years.
• For comparison, the average rate in an
  administrative office is 3.7

3
Two example from NuMI

• Case A
• Worker illegally modified an air hose fitting for
  a pneumatic tool (contract agreement clearly
  states no field-modified equipment).
• The coupling broke loose and the hose hit the man
  in the head, requiring several stitches
• He was knocked to the ground, injuring his knee
• Case B
• A worker was indoors during a lightening storm
  standdown.
• The worker was wearing safety goggles, even
  though he wasnt working, nor was there any work
  going on in the area.
• A piece of dust blew around the side of the
  goggles and got in the persons eye, causing
  irritation.
• Medical flushed the eye and prescribed a
  prescription ointment, making it reportable.
• In DOE counting, these two cases are exactly the
  same
• Using this accounting, an office is more
  dangerous than a coal mine!

4
What You Can Do

• These rates are basically consistent with
  unavoidable injuries (e.g. tripping while just
  walking down a hallway), so theres no margin for
  error.
• Our goal must be NO preventable injuries.
• Always take the time to do the job safely.
• Always keep an eye on each other.
• Tell someone if you think they are doing
  something in an unsafe way.
• Inform me immediately of any safety concerns you
  might have, no matter how minor.
• Finally,
• WE ARE NOT ENCOURAGING YOU TO LET PROBLEMS GO
  UNREPORTED TO KEEP OUR NUMBERS DOWN