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RE: Delusional individuals and how to deal with them
I've had to deal with a difficult person in the nuclear power world. A worker
was exiting our site through our whole-body
PM-7 (NaI slab detectors), he alarmed once, but not the second time, then
alarmed on the third. He thought our instrumentation was not working properly
and that we were purposely letting people leave without them knowing they were
contaminated. He didn't want to take "radiation" home to his wife and kids.
Getting wound up...
I talked to him and his supervisor after he was formally whole-body counted and
the first thing he said was that he did not trust anything I said and that we
were actively trying to cover up. You know how you can tell when someone
fervently believes something by that strong look in their eye; this guy was
serious. This guy was more adamant than Glen Close or the lady from the movie
"Misery". It didn't take the Jose and Wiedes legal seminar to tell me that this
was serious. Having a person repeatedly telling you your lying and trying to
cover up things in a confrontational and angry way can be slightly trying, but
there is nothing you can do. I think if you start out positive, you might have
a small chance of keeping the dialogue positive, but if you let your tone and
action go south, it then becomes an argument with passion. The misguided person
will argue to the death, you will have mad yourself mad for no good reason, and
possibly have put your employer at greater risk than they might otherwise be.
I believe worker was then whole-body counted, showered and whole-body counted
again in an attempt to get a good feel for internal/external determinations. I
told him that his level of contamination was near the lower detection limits of
the whole-body exit monitors and the gatehouse detectors would not consistently
alarm at that level. I stated that they are set at the correct levels, pass
their appropriated source checks every day, and that is was working properly.
There was no way I was going to start talking about confidence intervals and
other instrument details.
When I started to ask him about his whereabouts, he stated that he had been
removing steam generator bowl insulation and that the tech on the job was trying
to hide something as well. He stated that the tech would go over to the areas
outside the immediate work area and take readings, but not say anything. He
stated that he asked the tech how much he was getting, but the tech just
essentially said stay in this work area and what is over there is not applicable
to the work at hand. It is entirely a good call for the tech to not only know
the rad conditions of their immediate job, but to also be cognizant of
conditions and work around them. I told him the tech might have been doing a
good job of preventing him from straying into unnecessary radiological hazards
or potentially unknown conditions. I once again offered to perform follow up
actions to make sure he had all of the facts.
In the end I told him that I felt our instrumentation and personnel had acted
properly and would be willing to follow-up in any way. I even told him that if
he wished, he could take the time to write down all of his concerns and that I
would respond to each in writing. I told him I appreciated his sincerity,
recognized his concerns, and summarized why I felt there was nothing improper.
I never heard back from this person again and he worked the rest of the outage.
His supervisor came up to me after he left and apologized for his actions and I
said that it was no problem. If I cannot confidently defend the actions and
programs of my department, then something may be wrong...
Be sincere, honest, and when differences of opinion rise don't flinch or even
bat an eye, just let them know that you understand their concern and that you're
committed to helping to resolve the situation. If the person leaves and later
decides to attempt to take some form of legal action, you will know that you
have done the right thing for you and your employer in a sincere and
professional way.
Hastily written and sincerely,
Glen Vickers
-----Original Message-----
From: "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net> at INTERNET
Sent: Friday, September 18, 1998 4:19 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu> at INTERNET
Subject: RE: Delusional individuals and how to deal with them
> Has anyway had to deal with this situtation before? What suggestions do
> you have? Is it better to assist the person to get bioassays or other
> tests, even though they are not indicated at all? To ignore the person
> completely? To confront the person with your belief that he needs
> psyciatric help?
Having dealt with this before, both while working for the Sate of FL,
and also in the power reactor world, I suggest the following:
1. Don't be confrontational. They believe that they have been
exposed to radiation. In their minds, this is real.
2. Suggest that they talk to a physicist, and have whatever tests
run, to "quantify" if they have been irradiated. Address the
individual's concerns as you would if the scenario were plausible. In
other words, assess the potential. That means providing whatever
analytical tests to "assure" the individual that they have NOT been
irradiated. Whether or not the tests are really required, is not
important. You could actually help this person back to reality, with
respect to radiation exposure issues.
3. Have someone discuss the basics of radiation. Address natural
background and other methods whereby an individual is continually
exposed in our every day world.
4. If necessary, have the individual talk to a physician, one that you
are familiar with, and isn't going to tell the fellow that he has been
exposed to deadly radiation (that has happened). Be careful to
whom you refer the individual.
5. You can't ignore this person. He could become very irrational.
In the end, none of this may help, but, you do the best you can.
Good Luck!
------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306
Fax: (714) 668-3149
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com
ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com
Personal Website:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205
"The object of opening the mind, as of opening
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
- G. K. Chesterton -
The opinions expressed are solely, absolutely, positively, definitely those of
the author, and NOT my employer
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