Dec 7, 2007

Director: Safety a challenge at LANL


Los Alamos National Laboratory can't safely continue working overtime to meet new nuclear-trigger production schedules, an employee of the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board told the panel this week.

Lab officials say a lax attitude about safety procedures, aging buildings and trouble hiring federal oversight workers could jeopardize those who help produce the triggers.

[...]

Complete story:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SantaFeNorthernNM/Director_safety_a_challenge_at_LANL

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Lab management is blaming the employees for their "lax attitudes."

This reminds me of the WWI French Generals who blamed their soldiers for the German victories.

Anonymous said...

Denial is more than just a river in Egypt. It's a core competency at LANL.

Anonymous said...

Not to speak up for mananagement - but do they have to hold employee's hands to make them follow the rules.

Sounds like babysitting to me

Anonymous said...

I can tell you that there were many times when we were pressured by managers (program managers, not line managers) to take unreasonable risks to maintain schedules and/or minimize costs.

I reported safety hazards and was retaliated against for having done so.

Very few employees will knowlingly work in an unsafe fashion.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a shake-down by LANS (aka Bechtel/BWXT) to get more money out of Congress for pit production.

Bechtel and BWXT are getting weary of waiting for the lucrative Pit Factory build out. They didn't take on the management of this lab to watch over a bunch of pointy-headed scientists.