ATOMICS: Changing safety behavior is no small matter

“Do Work Safely.” the DOE’s safety mantra is more than a slogan. It is based on the DOE’s Integrated Safety Management (ISM) guidelines that Los Alamos and other DOE sites must follow. Safety is critical in every activity performed at Los Alamos, but nowhere is it more important than in the special nuclear materials operations performed at facilities within the Stockpile Manufacturing and Support Directorate (SMS).

Integrating science and technology with improved safety practices is critical to the SMS Directorate’s meeting its performance goals as well as meeting its commitments to DOE and NNSA for national security missions in support of nuclear deterrence, energy security, and homeland security. Protection of its workers, the public, and the environment is of paramount importance to SMS. For this reason, managers, technicians, engineers, and support personnel must all view themselves as members of the same team.

SMS has enhanced the behavior-based safety observation process, ATOMICS (Allowing Timely Observations Measures Increased Commitment to Safety), and integrated it with Human Performance Improvement (HPI) principles and Management Observation and Verification (MOV) safety tools. The goal is to reinforce safe behaviors and eliminate at-risk behaviors and conditions for all employees and operations (both programmatic and facility) at TA-55 (where the Plutonium Facility is located), and other sites across the Lab where SMS employees and operations are located.

HPI focuses on the aspects of work processes, organizational systems, and the work environment that have significant impact on human performance. It is the foundation of a successful program developed for the nuclear power industry by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and has been proven highly successful at improving performance, efficiency, and worker safety. MOV is a process by which managers observe workers and work, talk with the workers, and verify that corrective actions are completed. The DOE has integrated HPI principles and tools into its ISM manual, and the SMS Directorate in turn has applied ISM principles to its own safety-observation tool, ATOMICS.

ATOMICS was introduced seven years ago in the Nuclear Materials Technology Division with mixed success. At its inception, ATOMICS was an employee-driven program in which workers focused on behaviors by observing their peers, and managers focused on conditions by conducting walk-arounds. Hundreds of employees were trained as observers who identified thousands of safe and “at-risk” behaviors.

ATOMICS is now a management-driven process owned by all SMS employees. “Full participation is the expectation in SMS,” said Jim Kleinsteuber, ATOMICS facilitator. Management will be responsible for process sustainability, and participation may be tracked in a worker’s performance objectives.

The enhanced ATOMICS puts additional emphasis on data analysis and using data to identify root causes for injuries and to track safe work practices. As observations are made, those requiring action that can’t be immediately resolved at a team or group level are placed into the LANL Issue Management and Tracking System (LIMTS) and are tracked until they are resolved.
“ATOMICS is gearing up to collect and analyze data unlike anyone else’s, and a major reason for that is we have recently been established as a pilot observation process for the institution,” said Kleinsteuber. “Our hope is to maintain a strong and robust observation program at SMS that will move the directorate toward achieving best in class in safety performance, and at the same time, positively complement the Lab’s quest for Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) recognition in September 2009.”

A recent trip to Pantex in Amarillo, Texas, where a similar program is in place, was used to benchmark the Los Alamos process. “We were told by Pantex facilitators that LANL is a few steps ahead in some areas,” said ATOMICS facilitator Maryrose Montalvo. “LANL is moving faster on merging Human Performance Improvement principles with behavior-based principles, but we need to work on adding conditions. The scope of observation includes the entire job, not just worker behavior. We also need to perform more observations; we’ve done about 9,600 observations versus 65,000 to 70,000 at Pantex.”

Carl Beard, acting SMS associate director, is confident that ATOMICS can be an effective tool for improving safety posture. He and Mike Mallory (former Pantex Plant manager and now Laboratory principal associate director for Operations and Business) are familiar with the success of the program and saw excellent results when they worked at Pantex. Many other DOE sites use behavior-based safety programs, including Sandia, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Savannah River, Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, and Argonne.

Safety observation is one strategy that the Laboratory is using to improve processes such as Integrated Work Management (IWM) (IMP300.4), which is undergoing revitalization. Safety performance and processes are being analyzed as part of the implementation of DOE’s “Worker Safety and Health Rule 10 CFR Part 851,” a new program that establishes management responsibilities, worker rights, safety and health standards, and required training. The new order replaces the Contractor Requirements Document (CRD) of DOE O440.1A “Worker Protection Management for DOE Federal and Contractor Employees.”

One enhancement to ATOMICS is the creation of eight observation cards that are hazard and task oriented, versus the single card previously used. Specific cards are used to observe facility conditions, glovebox work activities, good catch/near miss, ergonomics, and outside observations and conditions in all areas of SMS operations. Data from observation cards are entered into a web-based recording and management system called Total Observation Process (TOPs) and are reviewed by the Data Analysis Support Team (DAST), which is made up of employees from throughout SMS. The DAST will recommend improvements on data collection and analysis, evaluate safety management tools, recommend actions to improve communication between managers and workers, and identify and monitor leading (it could happen) behavior and lagging (it’s already happened) behavior and job-context indicators.

“Safety is a shared vision between managers and workers alike,” said Kleinsteuber. “The goal is to have not just an injury-free workplace, but an injury-free career for everyone.” But it must also be understood that while an overall performance objective might be zero injuries or events, the most successful safety programs are built on a foundation of teamwork among all employees and managers.

This shared vision can be summed up in two commitments: management will provide the best possible safety training, processes, and equipment; and all employees will be safe and will participate in initiatives such as safety observation. To meet these commitments, SMS will use a variety of resources to accomplish three objectives: engage management at all levels to improve the safety of the workplace, improve the overall working environment, and increase worker safety awareness and empowerment in a non-threatening and non-disciplinary manner.

The goal is to have all of the directorate’s employees actively participating and performing observations and self-reporting by the end of January 2008. “We must work to ensure that the scientific, programmatic and safety cultures all mesh effectively and efficiently,” said Beard. For more information on the ATOMICS program, visit the web site at http://lanl.gov/orgs/adsms/atomics or contact Kleinsteuber or Montalvo at atomics@lanl.gov.