RE: Mr. Lipton's Input to Radsafe

[Gv1@AOL.COM]

I think that what bugs Bill is the fact that many "other" users of rad 

material clearly work withing regulatory frameworks that are not as rigorous 

as those in nuclear power.  Many other users haven't even heard of the 

concept of "corrective action programs" for continuous improvement.  Some of 

these other users report their incidents, many of which have direct exposure 

consequences to people, in a seemingly insensitive manner.  



How many times have we heard, that it isn't a significant health hazard, so 

it shouldn't be a regulatory problem.  The fact is that these types of 

organizations will never improve and continue to accept these types of 

events.  This mentality essentially perpetuates poor performance and that is 

really what is unacceptable.  This is actually a disservice to the poor 

working person in this organization.  They need tools to improve their jobs 

and organization.



It's easy to throw a rock at the messanger when you don't understand their 

perspective.  Unless you've worked in the nuclear power industry lately, you 

may not really understand the level of performance and quality that is 

expected and realize the true performance enhancements that can occur from a 

systematic investment in corrective action programs.  Doing things error free 

the first time actually saves money...  It's kinda like the difference 

between the Special Forces and those poor soldiers from the 507th Maintenance 

Battalion that got captured in Iraq.  There's a subtle difference in the 

quality of the soldier.  It's directly related to the quality of training, 

support systems, and performance expectations.



I think Bill's analysis of events provides a direct tie to what is truly 

right and wrong to prevent recurrence and not the victim mentality of why we 

don't have time or money to do the job right.  



Many utilities now find themselve in the free market place and those market 

forces provide budget and resource pressures as great as anyone else out 

there, but we're still held to the same standard.  Actually, those same 

corrective action program philosophies can actually be used to help point you 

in directions to help you with your budget and resource issues.  You'll have 

more time to do the job right the first time...



Let's continue to appreciate diversity in opinion.



Glen

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