NSTX Team Meeting

1
NSTX Team Meeting
College WM Colorado Sch Mines Columbia
U Comp-X General Atomics INEL Johns Hopkins
U LANL LLNL Lodestar MIT Nova Photonics New York
U Old Dominion U ORNL PPPL PSI Princeton
U SNL Think Tank, Inc. UC Davis UC
Irvine UCLA UCSD U Colorado U Maryland U
Rochester U Washington U Wisconsin
May 31, 2006
Culham Sci Ctr U St. Andrews York U Chubu U Fukui
U Hiroshima U Hyogo U Kyoto U Kyushu U Kyushu
Tokai U NIFS Niigata U U Tokyo JAERI Hebrew
U Ioffe Inst RRC Kurchatov Inst TRINITI KBSI KAIST
ENEA, Frascati CEA, Cadarache IPP, Jülich IPP,
Garching ASCR, Czech Rep
2
NSTX Team Meeting Agenda
Time 130 300, Place LSB-318, May 31, 2006
General Items Safety Forum and other safety
related matters Engineering Operations
Research Operations Run Coordination
Physics Analysis

3
Some general items
We are now passing 10 weeks of plasma
operations and 2 more weeks to go for 12
weeks. Full house approved the FY 07 budget
at the President's request level (OFES budget of
318,950,000) - NSTX to run for 12 weeks. The
next step is the Senate. Self-evaluations are
due now for the PPPL staff. The summer season
is here. Please let Joanne know of your summer
vacation plan and any summer visitor plan.

4
Safely, Safely, Safely
NSTX received the State Award for 5 consecutive
years without an away-from-work lost time
accident. Hazard Awareness Training (W.
Slavin) File Proper Visitor Forms (J.
Savino) ISM Review (J. Levine) Safety Forum
Summary held on Monday, May 15th.

5
Management Safety Walkthrough (MSW) of the NSTX
Control Room, and LSB East Wing Basement (C01,
C13) May 16, 2006 . ESH conditions in these
areas were found to be Excellent. Conditions in
the diagnostic labs in the LSB East Wing Basement
have significantly improved compared with what
has been seen in previous MSWs. LSB East Wing
Basement. A heat gun with a broken case was found
in Room B020C. Action L. Guttadora to remove
this heat gun from service within 3 days.
Completed by the walkthrough participants during
the MSW.M062710. LSB East Wing Basement.
Cardboard boxes are accumulating in Room B020A.
Action M. Ono to ensure that boxes stored in
this room by collaborators and others are limited
so as not to exceed combustible loadings for this
area.
6

• Safety Forum Breakout Session Report
• Ergonomics (Finley, Gervasi)
• Offsite Research (Gates, Sheneman)
• Workplace Improvements (Raftopoulos, Langella)
• Risky Behaviors (von Halle, Worthy)
• Safety Standards (Camp, Hill)
• Hazard Controls (Lacenere, Meighen)
• Safety Communication (Kalish, Weiser)
• Feedback Improvement (Baumgartner,
  Post-Zwicker)

7
Ergonomics

• Summary of Solution Options
• (by relative importance or greatest impact)
• Ergonomic Information on PPPL Homepage
• - Create and post a self-assessment form
• - Provide useful links to ergonomic information
• - Show examples of proper workstation set up
• Ergonomic Assessments by IH or OMO
• - Offices/Workstations
• - Specific Procedures
• Exercise/Stretching
• - To reduce back other body aches/pains
• - Take breaks, change positions, stretch
• - Group Sessions (before/after work/lunch)
• Furniture Equipment
• - Improve quality/selection of computer
  workstations
• - More comfortable conference seating
• - Anti-fatigue Mats/Task Lighting
• - Tools (moving loads vs. carrying)

8
Workplace Improvements

• Important Issues
• No lighting or low lighting in certain areas.
  The most critical of these would seem to be the
  D-Site FCPC bldg lights are turned off 6pm,
  although there are workers going to this area
  during 2nd shift.
• Roads and Sidewalks. There are various
  potholes, undulations cracks and other flaws that
  impede both pedestrian traffic and heavy
  machinery (i.e. fork trucks with heavy and/or
  delicate loads)
• Installation of cameras and/or microphones for
  areas where individuals are working alone. This
  opened up to an out of scope discussion
  regarding the rules for working alone. The
  technical staff is under strict guidelines and
  expect (demand) to see these guidelines enforced
  universally at PPPL.
• Windows in doorways. The staff applauded this
  effort, but feels that more is needed.

9
Workplace Improvements

• Potential root cause(s) for concerns within this
  area
• - Lack of manpower and/or funding to address
  issues immediately.
• - Some people did not know if concerns (work
  orders and the drop box) were being addressed and
  how to find out. Its unclear to the staff if
  this information is posted and how to get to it.
• - People were frustrated that items mentioned at
  last years Safety Forum were on this years
  lists.
• Summary of Solution options (in order of relative
  importance or greatest impact)
• - Change the timers so that the FCPC lights are
  on until 2nd shift is over
• - Find a way to better report or publish the work
  requests and the progress on them.

10
Risky Behavior

• Discussed concerns centered around the small
  group safety meeting topics
• Motor vehicles/ roadways
• Housekeeping
• Work Practices
• Spills/ slip hazards
• The concerns addressed can be boiled down to the
  following
• Complacency/behavior (Culture)
• Knowledge of Rules (or lack of)
• Conditions of Facilities/Roadways
• PPPL Policies/Procedures

11
Risky Behavior

• Motor Vehicles/Roadways
• On-site traffic patterns and road postings are
  not adequate
• Add one-way routes, stop, yield and pedestrian
  signs
• Roadway obstructions (trailers, dumpsters)
• Provide reflectors/mirrors/signage at
  obstructions for visibility
• Provide parking for delivery vehicles at
  Security Gate and at lower lot building entrance
• Establish rules for employee, govt, emergency
  vehicles
• Maintaining speed limits
• Explain the rules (if exit gate must fully cycle
  for each vehicle, open 2nd exit lane)

12
Risky Behavior

• Housekeeping
• Post a Safety Bulletin regarding office
  housekeeping (paper storage, common hazards,
  respect for Janitors)
• Establish a mandatory clean-up day
• Identify Dept storage areas w/responsible person
• stored pieces should be labeled/inventoried/review
  ed
• Need to streamline procedures for excessing
  equipment
• Schedule area clean-up at completion of a job
• Employees need to be aware of what goes in the
  trash.
• Metal shavings should go into recyclables.
• Consider dedicated receptacles for sharp trash

13
SAFETY STANDARDS

• JHA - A Question of Rigor
• When does IH have to sign off?
• When do I have to send it to IH?
• Bottom Line - Risk AvoidanceIf I dont, will I
  get spanked?
• SOLUTION - Communication of Clear Expectations
• (see von Halle memo)

14
Hazard Controls Key Areas of Concern

• JHA confusion
• Is it needed for every job, is it an official
  document? No two in the group had the same
  interpretation some agreed about some aspects,
  but not all
• Sharp Objects
• Hazards handling of newly fabricated parts with
  sharp edges
• Proper disposal of sharp objects and proper
  handling of containers with sharp objects
• Dangerous elevated access requirements
• The NSTX test cell has dangerous elevated access
  requirements
• Arc Flash Hazards
• After EUT training, the general consensus was
  that only qualified people should be operating
  breakers/disconnects

15
Hazard Controls Key Areas of Concern

• Indoor traffic and blind spots at intersections
• Improved lighting, especially after hours
• Install mirrors at blind intersections
• Uneven flooring in Test Cell (grounding cables)
• Problematic when moving equipment daily
• Worn tools and their timely replacement or repair
• It is the responsibility of the worker to inspect
  his tools prior to use
• Lab should budget for repair/replacement of worn
  or defective tools

16
Hazard Controls Closing Comments

• Group discussion was positive and affirmed the
  quality of our safety program and its importance
  to PPPL
• Program improvements focused on
• Proper training for tasks to be performed
• How we presently configure temporary hazard
  barriers and warning signs for projects
• Good housekeeping is essential for a good safety
  program
• Proper handling of sharp objects
• Proper disposal of sharp and heavy objects in
  appropriate containers and avoiding overloading
  those containers

17
Safety Communications

• Summary of Solution Options
• Reinforce Ask the questions
• Encourage reporting
• Publicize CALL JERRY
• Publicize SOS box on the web
• Creation of Safety Spot Award
• Signs
• Replace some signs with barriers or tape
• Produce simple, clear signs and e-mails
• Remove unnecessary and out-of-date signs
• New tools
• Real-time chat room for COE during operations
• Centralized calendar of events

18
Feedback ImprovementsFear of Stop-work and
Reporting

• Potential root cause(s) for concerns
• Fear repercussions from co-workers or
  management.
• Held up as an example of what NOT to do.
  Also recognize good examples.
• Summary of Solution options
• Promote identifying latent errors. Incentives.
• Reinforce that issues need to be reported
  regardless of the numbers or impact on safety
  record.
• Institute Anonymous whistle-blower.
• Reinforce training that reporting near misses
  helps identify latent errors and potential
  accidents.