[ RadSafe ] Completion of Book on Whistleblower Experience in the DOE System

[Janet Westbrook]

RadSafe Folks --
 
Several years ago I posted a message on RadSafe to say that I was
writing a book about my experience as a whistleblower in the DOE system.
It has been a long, hard effort, but I am happy to say that the book is
finished at last.
 
I have chosen to make the book available to everybody in the world so
that all of my fellow rad protection professionals can see and read it,
if they choose. Thus you may all access it for free and may download and
share it if you like. I only ask that you respect the copyright. The URL
is as follows.
 
http://techno-info.com/JanetWestbrook
 
My intent is to show how rad safety management can go wrong and how
DOE's system is flawed in terms of whistleblower protection. For
example, US readers/taxpayers may be surprised to find that although I
won my case in the DOE whistleblower system (the DOE Office of Hearings
and Appeals) and my former employer paid me a settlement of $280,000+ in
lieu of damages and getting my old job back, DOE paid half the
settlement. So much for discouraging misbehavior by contractors.
 
I also wished to share my ideas on how rad safety can be handled and
mishandled, especially when regulators are lax and when the operations
people control the safety people's finances. I believe that the many
examples I give of this will illuminate people's thinking about this. I
hope that people will be discussing these distressing anti-safety events
and my analysis of the causes of the events.
 
Please feel free to communicate with me about this, but please be
polite: I poured my heart and soul into this effort to restore some
sanity to DOE safety.
 
 
Janet Westbrook