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From Persis and Paul: ISMS Evaluation Report

(Image)The Department of Energy Integrated Safety Management Team completed their effectiveness review of SLAC operations last Friday; their final report is now available online. We encourage you to read the report or, at the very least, the executive summary. Everyone at this laboratory has been working hard to accomplish the necessary changes in culture that will result in a safer, more effective and more efficient operation. The review team not only appreciated the effort, they saw real change and significant progress toward effective ISMS at SLAC.

The most important observation from the review team is that they saw a different attitude toward on-site safety from the laboratory staff. This "can do" attitude concerns correction of safety problems. We heard this on the first day and consistently through their visit. This change in attitude toward safety is the foundation we will build on. Everyone at SLAC must have a safe work environment and feel empowered to commit to an accident-free and injury-free work place. All employees must feel free to make suggestions or raise concerns without fear of retribution or attribution. In other words, you have the right, and we have the responsibility, to ensure that you go home tonight as safe and healthy as when you came in this morning.

While we still have lots of work to do, the review team felt we have the elements in place to have truly effective safety systems throughout the lab. Where we have weaknesses, we have identified them, and the actions we are taking to address our weaknesses are good. In some cases the team commented that when we implement the plans we have in place, we will have systems that are among the best in the DOE complex.

The review team greatly appreciated the effectiveness of the site office in providing oversight. They were also impressed with the partnership commitment between SLAC, the site office and Stanford University that provides the foundation for progress and improvements now and in the future. The progress we are seeing would not have happened without the excellent working relationship that has developed between the site office and the lab.

The parting advice of the Oak Ridge boys was, in East Tennessee dialect, "Get 'R Done." Translated, this means, keep up the good work and implement the plans in place. Safety is not a destination; it is a path we take and a commitment we make, day-in and day-out, that will allow us to stay at the forefront of outstanding science.

We are heading in the right direction and we are making good progress. Keep it up!

—Persis Drell and Paul Golan
  SLAC Today, August 22, 2008
 

You can view a PowerPoint summary of the review here.