Re: Energy Dept. Nuke Contractors Fined

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

Back when I was teaching laboratory courses I had similar experiences.  We
had safety goggles, eyewash fountains, showers, dress codes (closed-toe
shows, etc.) and some students routinely ignored the safety precautions.
Fortunately there were no major accidents that we got sued for in my labs --
though there were a couple of nasty ones -- but a similar thing happens at
universities and the institution is sued.  OSHA was supposed to take care of
the problem of employers not providing PPEs and safety equipment.

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Friday, May 26, 2000 11:36 AM
Subject: RE: Energy Dept. Nuke Contractors Fined


>I think there is a range of issues between Grant Wilton's and Bill
>Lipton's statements.  Here in Oak Ridge, many workers who believe
>they've been affected by exposures at the plants say they were not
>offered PPE and were discouraged from requesting it.  This is wrong and
>when it occurs the contractor should be held accountable.  However, from
>my days as a field manager on hazardous waste sites, I've also had to
>deal with a few workers who refused to wear PPE or otherwise ignored
>safety rules that they felt were inconvenient.  I think proper
>documentation by the contractor is the only sufficient recourse in the
>latter case, if an incident occurs and it goes to litigation.
>
>An interesting story, a hazwaste contractor once tried to fire a worker
>(union member) who grossly violated safety rules on a hazardous waste
>site at a unionized manufacturing plant.  The plant workers threatened
>to strike if the hazmat worker was fired!  The violation was entry into
>a confined space (holding tank) to break the ice in order to measure a
>wastewater level.  He fell through the ice and had to be rescued.
>
>I've also been told about workers on a PCB-cleanup site who would lift
>up their respirators in order to smoke--both forbidden activities in the
>restricted area!
>
>I think that a site safety manager needs to be a strong individual who
>can both stand up to management to get what is needed to protect the
>workers and enforce rules on unwilling workers.  It's not an easy job.
>
>Any opinions expressed are my own.
>
>Regards,
>Susan Gawarecki
>--
>==================================================
>Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
>Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
>136 S Illinois Ave, Ste 208, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
>Phone (865) 483-1333; Fax (865) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
>==================================================
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