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1 The Battelle Safety Journey Jeffrey Wadsworth Executive Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations Upton, New York November 28, 2007.

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Presentation on theme: "1 The Battelle Safety Journey Jeffrey Wadsworth Executive Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations Upton, New York November 28, 2007."— Presentation transcript:

1 1 The Battelle Safety Journey Jeffrey Wadsworth Executive Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations Upton, New York November 28, 2007

2 2 Battelle The Business of Innovation A charitable trust organized as a non-profit corporation in 1929 Conducting ~$3.4 billion in annual R&D In 2006, distributed ~$17 million to our communities –Strong emphasis on education Managing or co-managing 7 major laboratories, including 6 DOE national laboratories Responsible for the safety of 20,000 staff 141 R&D 100 awards Battelle Annual Report 2006

3 3 Delivering innovative solutions to complex challenges Efficient operations and the protection of workers, the public, and the environment Being a trusted and valued community/ regional asset Excellence in Laboratory Operations/ES&H Excellence in Community Service Not only achievable, but essential for success Battelle’s signature in laboratory operations: Simultaneous excellence Excellence in Science & Technology

4 4 Each of our labs has made commitments to improve safety performance... Build and lead a culture of personal accountability for safety and operational discipline Change culture and behavior Establish, communicate, and maintain well-defined standards, requirements, and tools that integrate safety into all phases of research and operations Provide staff with knowledge and tools Modernize facilities and reduce or eliminate hazards and legacy materials Create safer workspaces

5 5... but we have encountered significant cultural challenges Lack of personal accountability for safety Lack of management engagement on safety Lack of a questioning attitude (a “polite” culture) A focus on solving problems without worrying about procedures

6 6 In 2004, we began focusing on safety in a different way Several incidents raised serious questions about our “inherent” safety culture A worker was seriously injured after consciously violating several safety barriers while using a band saw A supervisor’s inappropriate response to a bulging waste drum led to a laceration requiring sutures Two workers were exposed to radiological material as the result of inadequate maintenance followed by failure to follow spill response procedures A dropped 1-ton hoist could easily have resulted in 2 fatalities BUSINESS SENSITIVE 6

7 7 Sharing responsibility for safety –Managers care about employee safety –Employee engagement at all levels is essential Safety is about people, not statistics –Personal stories Challenging others and accepting challenges Avoiding heuristic traps Reinforcing the fundamental belief that all accidents are preventable Key elements of changing attitudes toward safety

8 8 Challenging others and accepting challenges: High-reliability organizations

9 9 Familiarity Belief that our behavior is correct to the extent that we have done something before Social proof Belief that a behavior is correct to the extent that others are engaged in it Commitment Belief that a behavior is correct to the extent that it is consistent with a prior commitment Scarcity Distorting the value of opportunities that we perceive as limited and competing with others to obtain them Avoiding heuristic traps

10 10 Redundancy More nuclear security forces may produce less nuclear security Social shirking Reducing reliability in the belief that others will take up the slack Avoiding heuristic traps (continued)

11 11 Key principles emerged for building a solid safety culture Everyone behaves as if all injuries are preventable Everyone is prepared to challenge unsafe behavior, and to welcome challenges Each of us is responsible for our own safety and for that of our co ‑ workers Constant vigilance is maintained, especially on routine tasks Managers feel personally responsible for the safety of their employees

12 12 We have improved, but we are not yet where we want to be Battelle Aggregate by Fiscal Year 0 100 200 300 400 20002001200220032004200520062007 TRC DART Added INL DOE DART Goals DOE TRC Goals People hurt

13 13 Even though it is about people, not statistics: We can use statistics to help us improve Monthly (129 people hurt) ORNL overall, FY00–FY05 0 1 2 3 4 5 Hourly (374 people hurt) Weekly (118 people hurt) Lifting Pushing/pulling Keyboarding Walking/standing Using tools Other TRC rates by activity Most of our efforts to improve safety have focused on work-related issues with the potential to cause serious injury A large number of events have no obvious connection to the work There are strong indications that cultural issues are as important as work-related issues

14 Workplace observations are a key part of safety leadership DuPont’s Safety Training Observation Program (STOP) Management observations –Facilitate dialog between workers and management –Promote safe laboratory operations –Emphasize person-to-person interactions, rather than identification of noncompliances 14

15 Human Performance Today, we continue to focus on strengthening our overall safety culture We must recognize that: People are fallible, and even the best make mistakes As we plan our work, we need to consider people as both “controls” and “hazards” Physical conditions, organizational processes, individual behavior, and management behavior all contribute to human error High-reliability organizations encourage and reward reporting, rather than looking for someone to blame Trust between managers and staff is the single greatest predictor of success for any improvement initiative “Our challenge now: Develop strategies, based on a common foundation but tailored to local characteristics and challenges, to drive safety culture improvement.” CEO Carl Kohrt Battelle Safety Summit, May 2006 “Our challenge now: Develop strategies, based on a common foundation but tailored to local characteristics and challenges, to drive safety culture improvement.” CEO Carl Kohrt Battelle Safety Summit, May 2006 15

16 BUSINESS SENSITIVE 16


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