RE: DOE Cites Argonne LabSubcontractor for Nuclear Safety Violations

["Grimm, Lawrence" <LGrimm@ADMIN.UCLA.EDU>]

Hi all:

It's lunch time, so I think I will burn a few more finger calories at your
expense.

On my previous post, I suggested that regulators consider issuing a Notice
of Praise (or whatever they want to call it).  I am serious about that idea.
It is a powerful reinforcer of doing things properly, and the psychology of
it gets people out of the "scared to talk to the regulator" mode.  

For example, I used the technique at a university. Researchers make honest
mistakes and spill things. If they handled the problem correctly and
reported it to me, I would send letters of praise to the Department Chair.
After the first few praise letters, the number of reported incidents grew.
It was not a question of more incidents, it was that unreported events
started getting reported.  I actually saw people reporting minor incidents
in their survey log books (if a lab's survey records show that it is 100%
contamination free all of the time, you better be suspicious that they are
afraid to report minor incidents).    

Too often we create a climate of fear.  It's a bad thing in my opinion.  And
you know that this climate of fear spills over into the public domain. Can
you imagine the effect on the public if the NRC issued Notices of Praise
that essentially said, "XYZ Company had a problem, but they handled it so
well that we think they deserve praise."?  

To you regulators out there, give this idea some thought. Properly done, you
might be able to get a promotion for being the brilliant one to pull it off.
The rest of you Radsafers should encourage them to pursue the idea.  The
idea is simplistic, but could have tremendous ramifications that would
benefit us all.  

        Larry Grimm
UCLA Radiation Safety Division
*	On Campus: CHS A6-060 MS 957061
*	Off Campus: UCLA Radiation Safety Div, 2195 West Medical
Building, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1764
*	lgrimm@admin.ucla.edu   Phone:310/206-0712   Fax 310/794-5825
*	If this email is not RSD business, the opinions are mine, not
UCLA's.
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