Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC)

1. Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC) May 20, 2013 Mark Berkheimer, CHMM ORAU EH&S Specialist 3/Chemical Hygiene Officer

2. Our Mission ESH works to protect ORAU employees in their workplace by integrating safety and health programs into daily practices, and to prevent damage to the environment and adverse exposure to the public.

3. How do we maintain safety while performing our mission? Our work for the Department of Energy and other customers requires our employees to conduct their work safely here at our facilities as well as at locations throughout the US and the world.

4. The first step is the development of a strong safety culture. Worker safety has always been important at ORAU, but a mature safety culture is always looking at improvement. It is easy to have a strong safety culture in a high hazard situation, but when the hazard is low, how can you keep your workers engaged in safety. This has been our challenge.

5. Here are the keys that influence our safetyprogram at ORAU. • Worker Engagement and Involvement • Effective and comprehensive training • Strong Work Control Tools • Continuous improvement

6. Worker Engagement and Involvement It is important to involve the people that are actually performing the work in the planning process. This was very important to our success in conducting hazardous ARRA work at various Oak Ridge sites where we were performing work that stretched our comfort zone. By listening to our workers and assessing conditions in the field, we were able to establish work plans & controls that allowed the work to be conducted safely with minimal setbacks.

7. Training Having a well trained work force that can conduct their job in a safe manner may sound simplistic, but its importance cannot be minimized. Especially when the work is being conducted at locations where you have no oversight presence.

8. Work Control Tools Probably the most essential mechanism we use at ORAU to maintain a safe work environment and protect our workers are strong and effective work control tools. We use these tools to determine what hazards are present, what qualifications are required to perform the work safely, and what controls need to be employed to mitigate hazards.

9. Work Control Tools • Physical Requirements & Working Conditions (PRWC) Form • Radiation Work Permit (RWP) • Hazardous Work Authorization (HWA) • Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC)

10. Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC)

11. Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC) • Used to evaluate all new or modified work not addressed by a program’s ISM Plan • Primarily an identification/inventory of potential hazards, as well as required training, certifications, & medical monitoring • However, in the absence of other documents (JHAs, HWAs, RWPs), could be utilized to identify other required types of controls

12. Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC) • Ensures that ISM’s 5 Core Functions are considered when planning for ALL new work: • Define the Work Scope • Analyze the Hazards • Develop & Implement Hazard Controls • Perform Work within Controls • Provide Feedback & Continuous Improvement

21. Work-Specific Hazard Checklist (WSHC) • Developed by IEAV (primary user) & ESH • Replaced two separate forms previously utilized • ISM Plan for New or Modified Work • ISM Pre-Job Hazard Checklist • Eliminated or improved upon several deficiencies in the previous documents

23. Potential Areas of Improvement: • Lack of concrete procedure for completion & distribution of forms • Insufficient opportunity for documented input from all interested parties • Little or no opportunity for detail/nuance • Lack of direct connection between hazards identified & controls, training requirements, credentials, & medical monitoring

24. Lack of concrete procedure for completion & distribution of forms: • Forms were completed an individual project manager and submitted to ESH by email or hardcopy for approval • Level of detail was dependent on person completing the form & wasn’t always sufficient to fully analyze the hazards • Distribution & revision based on comments led to the potential of multiple versions

25. WSHC Solutions: • Company-wide SharePoint established to house all WSHC • User completes form & uses button inside document to load to SharePoint site & notify all reviewers. All review & edit done through SharePoint site • Requires specific level of detail that ensures that hazards are fully analyzed & addressed

26. WSHC Solutions:

27. Insufficient opportunity for documented input from all interested parties: • Only one place for approving individuals to sign (ESH Director/Designee) • Other individuals (Occ Health, training, RSO, etc.) may have been asked for input, but process not documented

28. WSHC Solutions: • Submission to WSHC SharePoint system automatically notifies individuals responsible for general safety, chemical safety, radiation safety, training, & occupational health • All given chance to comment • Opportunity for both ESH & Occ Health to sign • Additional areas built into form for direct ESH & Occ Health comments

29. Little or no opportunity for detail/ nuance: • Checklist was strictly a list of potential hazards with yes/no check boxes • Lack of opportunity to even identify hazards that weren’t already listed on the form

30. WSHC Solutions: • Creation of a dynamic form • Can be as simple or complex as needed • Serve as either a simple hazard checklist, or a complex document that identifies related controls, training, monitoring, etc.

31. WSHC Solutions: OR

32. Lack of connection between hazards identified & controls, training requirements, credentials, & medical monitoring • Checklist was strictly a list of potential hazards with yes/no check boxes • No direct connection to what controls are required by those hazards

33. WSHC Solutions: • Creation of a dynamic form • Serve as simple hazard checklist or complex document that identifies related controls • Form user can manually enter control details or identify where they exist: JHA, HWA, RWP • Checking of some hazards also auto-populates controls in the form such as PPE, medical monitoring, training, credentials, etc.

34. WSHC Solutions: Results in:

35. Here are the keys that influence our safetyprogram at ORAU (again). • Worker Engagement and Involvement • Effective and comprehensive training • Strong Work Control Tools • Continuous improvement

36. Questions???? • Mark Berkheimer, CHMM • EH&S Specialist 3/Chemical Hygiene Officer • mark.berkheimer@orau.org