Horizontal Direction Drilling

While traditional methods of utility installations are generally more cost effective, especially in areas with lots of other buried utility lines, the sensitive environment of SNL's remote sites is highly susceptible to land disturbance and ecology concerns. The disturbance caused by the heavy equipment necessary for open trench installation can re...

Loss of Operator Control Station Control

This article discusses problems and lessons learned during the restart of an uninterruptible power supply at the Material and Fuels Complex's Fuel Conditioning Facility. The main issues during the restart were: The operating procedure was not properly followed, The operator performing the work was not comfortable restoring power to the unit and...

Warehouse Worker Crushed by Forks of Laser Guided Vehicle

The Washington Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program has published a new Fatality Narrative. This new narrative describes an incident where a warehouse worker was killed when he was crushed by the forks of a laser guided forklift. We believe the incident and the unique hazards associated with emerging automation are relevant to most in...

Previous Success Leads to Decisions that Resulted in Spread of Radiological Contamination

An over-reliance on selective empirical data gathered during the course of and following demolition impacted the decisions on the rate and methods of demolition. The controls and detection methods for the spread of radiological contamination during demolition activities did not take into account the potential for larger, non-respirable particles.L...

Electric Shock Drowning - Unknown Danger Lurking in the Water

In July, 2013 a 13 year old girl and her 8 year old brother died while swimming near a private dock in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. About two hours later a 10-year-old boy died in a similar manner at Cherokee Lake, near Knoxville, Tennessee. His 11-year-old friend was pulled from the water and resuscitated but died early the following eveni...

COW - The Video that will Stop You from Texting while Driving

This is a video about texting while driving produced by a a filmaker in Whales, UK. It portrays the events from a vehicle accident that involved a young girl who kills four people on the road because she used her mobile and lost her concentration for a few seconds.

Generator Circuit Breaker Explosion at Priest Rapids Dam

Six employees were injured from an explosion while performing emergent troubleshooting activities on a Priest Rapids generator circuit breaker. The event resulted in six lost time injuries due to severe burns that requied hospitalization for all six of the employees. Equipment damage included the generator and generator circuit breaker, resulting i...

Understanding the Distracted Brain

The cognitive distraction from paying attention to conversation – from listening and responding to a disembodied voice – contributes to numerous driving impairments. Specific driving risks are discussed in detail in this article.

The Safe Conduct of Research: The Role of Research Supervisor

Battelle's Safe Conduct of Research (SCoR) principles form the foundation of PNNL's safety culture.
In the fourth in a series of videos examining the principles in action, the principle "Leaders Value the Safety Legacy They Create in Their Discipline" is examined in concert with the formalization of the role of Research Supervisor.

The video h...

The Safe Conduct of Research - Cobalt-60 Source Transfer

Battelle's Safe Conduct of Research (SCoR) principles form the foundation of PNNL's safety culture. In the third in a series of videos examining these principles in action, a PNNL project team tasked with the planning, procurement, and receipt of a highly radioactive source of Cobalt-60 shares how the SCoR principles inform their work.
From maint...

Peer to Peer Accountability - Teamwork, Mutual Respect, & Circle of Trust

This video demonstrates undesirable (along with the desirable) behavior examples of supervisor-employee interactions when changes are requested to work instructions. Engage the circle of trust - put management and employees in one circle....ultimately save time, improve efficiencies, improve safety culture.....

Vehicle Security Barrier Accident

This video summarizes an accident that occurred when a delivery truck driver was struck in the back of the leg by a descending active vehicle barrier which caused significant injury to the drivers lower leg. The Security Police Officer, who was processing the driver through the Vehicle Monitoring Facility, lowered the barrier without first verifyin...

Savannah River Site Employees Safely Repair Cracked Glovebox

Employees from more than 20 Savannah River Site organizations repaired a glovebox cabinet in the HB Line ahead of schedule. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions replaced the glovebox panel that had been cracked during normal operations within six weeks of the planned 11 weeks. The panel was cracked during a routine processing activity when equipment in...

Review of Operating Experience Results in Process Improvement

In preparation for an upcoming core internals change out outage at the Advanced Test Reactor, a team of personnel reviewed past core internal change out reports for information to improve performance. During this review, it was noted that the tool used for removing the right hand beryllium blocks was very difficult to set up and operate. In Additi...