SLAC Today is available online at:
http://today.slac.stanford.edu
In this issue:
Inside the Plating Shop's Wastewater Treatment Plant
Safety Today: Hoisting and Rigging
In Memoriam: Simon Peter Rosen
Experimental Seminar: Omega-Minus Spin
Safety Second
Tuesday - October 17, 2006 |
Inside the Plating Shop's Wastewater Treatment PlantOn any given day, the shelves and worktables of SLAC's Plating Shop are lined with pieces of metalfrom thumb-sized stainless steel pipes, to rectangular lengths of copper, to titanium jawsall destined for duty somewhere in the SLAC lab. "About 90 percent of the equipment used at SLAC comes through our shop," says Ali Farvid, Metal Finishing Supervisor. The shop prepares the metal parts for use by cleaning, plating, or otherwise modifying them.
But along with useful equipment, the shop's processes produce wastewater that is
acidic or alkaline and contains small amounts of dissolved metals such as iron,
copper, nickel or silver. Regulations prohibit this wastewater from being
released directly into the environment. Instead, it is diverted to an
unremarkable-looking system of pipes and tanks adjacent to the shop. The system,
however, isn't unremarkable: it is the Plating Shop's award-winning wastewater
treatment plant.
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Lessons Learned in a Hoist Cable FailureAt the Department of Energy Savannah River Site (SRS), workers learned the importance of following procedures and doing pre-operational visual inspections. On August 22, 2006, while using a truck-mounted crane to lower a 100 pound sample load into a transportation drum, the wire rope failed, dropping the load approximately 6 inches. Although this accident caused no injuries and left the sample intact, the accident was potentially preventable. SRS is taking the following corrective actions: - Procedures will now require the visual inspection of the crane and wire rope, and will not allow contact between the downfall weight and boom tip. - Wire rope will be marked to indicate maximum height that loads can be lifted. - A method will be developed to secure the hook to the truck when it is being stored for transport (as opposed to having the downfall weight close to boom tip). - The AHA process for incidental rigging operations will also be strengthened. SLAC personnel, particularly those who work with hoisting and rigging, are asked to consider this incident when going about their work at SLAC. A description of this incident and many others can be found at the ES&H Lessons Learned website. |
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