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The team studying Integrated Safety Management at Argonne found several deficiencies and opportunities for improvement during their two-week verification of how safety is integrated into the laboratory's work practices.
Argonne Interim Director Yoon Chang stated his personal commitment to Integrated Safety Management at the March 1 closeout meeting.
"Integrating safety into management is a philosophy we've had at Argonne for a long time," Chang said. "We are proud of our success, but we recognize there are always opportunities for improvement. We'll take every one of these comments very seriously."
The team identified four "deficiencies" -- problem areas requiring immediate correction -- and 10 opportunities for improvement. Also noted during the two-week verification effort were several strengths.
Argonne's ISM description doesn't adequately describe the laboratory's safety management system, the team found. The laboratory also needs to improve its document control procedures to keep track of document development, review and revisions. A more thorough system for safety management feedback and improvement is needed, and Argonne-West should have a documented process for prioritizing resource allocation and control of subsequent changes.
Opportunities for improvement included improving the dissemination of standards and requirements from management to the laboratories and offices. Argonne also needs to improve its performance expectations and measures, make sure roles and responsibilities are clear and balance priorities.
The team also noted several strengths:
Joint program reviews by Argonne's Environment,
Safety and Health Division and DOE Argonne Office.
The experimental safety approval process at the
Advanced Photon Source.
Argonne-East's Training Management System.
Argonne-West's comprehensive, systematic approach
to training.
Literature used to communicate environment, safety
and health issues, including ESH Focus.
The Environment, Safety and Health Subcommittee of
the University of Chicago Board of Governors for
Argonne.
After a two-week review and comment period, the team's final report will be officially submitted to DOE Chicago Office Manager Tim Crawford. After that, Argonne must revise its Integrated Safety Management Description and establish corrective action plans to address the deficiencies and opportunities for improvement noted by the team.
The team, led by John Adachi of DOE's Chicago Office, included DOE employees from headquarters and several field offices, and employees from five other national laboratories. The review was part of a DOE effort to verify ISM programs at all the national laboratories.
The team looked at documentation and observed work processes at the institutional level, in operations divisions and in each associate laboratory directorate.
Integrated Safety Management is a valuable tool for preventing the kinds of incidents that not only put employees' health in jeopardy, but can result in fines and negative publicity for the laboratory.
In a widely reported recent case, DOE cited Argonne for violating its own safety procedures in several separate incidents, occurring in different areas of the laboratory, over a two-year period. Because of the safety significance of two contamination events, the department would have issued a civil penalty of $110,000. However, since Argonne is one of the department's laboratories exempt from civil penalties by statute, the fine was not imposed.
In two of the incidents, Argonne workers received low levels of external radioactive contamination _ less than that received as a result of a dental or chest X-ray. There was never any risk to the public or to workers at Argonne outside the immediate area, and exposures were well within regulatory limits.
DOE also cited, but did not fine, Argonne for four instances in which radioactive material was judged to be not properly controlled. In three of the instances, contaminated material was stored in areas on the site, including storage rooms and cabinets, not marked as controlled areas. These materials typically are found as Argonne cleans out old storage areas to bring them up to today's standards. Argonne is in the process of doing a comprehensive search to determine the status of any additional material.
"Argonne has sustained an excellent safety record over the years," said Adam Cohen, director of Environment, Safety and Health/Quality Assurance. "Adhering to the principles of Integrated Safety Management will help continue to improve the laboratory's safety record."
Tickets for a concert by the Amati String Quartet will be sold in the lobby of the Argonne-East Building 213 Cafeteria during the week of March 13 from noon to 1 p.m.
The quartet will perform works by Haydn, Janácek and Schumann in the Advanced Photon Source Conference Center Auditorium Saturday, March 18, at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20. Remaining tickets will be sold at the auditorium box office the day of the performance, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The concert is open to the public. The program is sponsored by Arts at Argonne and partially supported by the Illinois Arts Council.
A special pre-concert dinner will be offered at the Argonne Guest House restaurant. Dinner hours are from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Cost is $22.95 per person. Reservations are requested; call (630) 739-6000.
Minooka Community High School won Argonne's fifth annual Rube Goldberg machine contest, held March 3 in Chicago.
The three-member team, calling itself Rube's Level Seven, defeated eight other Chicago-area high schools by building the wackiest machine to fill and seal a clear glass jar -- sort of a simulated time capsule -- with samples of significant inventions of the 20th Century. The machine had to complete its task in 20 or more steps.
Winning team members are Nick Pucel, Chris Spray and Rachel Underhill, and their faculty advisor is Phil Sumida. Second place was won by Plainfield High School and third place went to Morgan Park Academy of Chicago.
Rube Goldberg machine contests are inspired by Reuben Lucius Goldberg, whose cartoons combined simple household items into complex devices to perform trivial tasks. The machines combine the principles of physics and engineering, using common objects such as marbles, mousetraps, stuffed animals, electric mixers, vacuum cleaners, rubber tubes, bicycle parts and anything else that happens to be on hand. Other teams in the contest were: Downers Grove South High School, Downers Grove; Glenbrook South High School, Glenview; Hubbard High School, Chicago; Maine South High School, Park Ridge; Marist High School, Chicago; and Whitney Young Magnet High School, Chicago.
Each member of the winning team and their faculty advisor received Argonne superconducting pen and pencil sets and an Argonne Rube Goldberg machine contest T-shirt. In addition, the team will get a tour of Argonne, which will include the virtual reality CAVE and the Advanced Photon Source, as well as lunch with Argonne scientists. The first-place team also will have the opportunity to demonstrate their winning machine at Purdue University's National Rube Goldberg machine contest April 8 and at Argonne on the day of their tour. The top three teams in the contest will have the opportunity to compete in the Illinois State Championship Rube Goldberg machine contest this spring.
They will compete against the top three teams from the Engineering Open House High School Rube Goldberg machine contest also held March 3 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The statewide championship will be held May 13 at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.
Argonne's Division of Educational Programs and Office of Public Affairs sponsor the event in collaboration with the Chicago Children's Museum, and the Theta Tau National Rube Goldberg machine contest, held annually at Purdue University.
A St. Patrick's Day celebration will be held in Argonne-East's Building 213 Cafeteria Thursday, March 16, from 4:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
There will be a DJ to provide music for dancing, and food and beverages will be available for purchase. There will be a $2 cover charge.
Argonne-East employees who spend a lot of time working on their computers are invited to attend "Computer User Ergonomics" and learn to reduce their risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and other disorders.
The class will be presented Tuesday, March 21, and again on Thursday, April 27. Classes will be held from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. in Building 202, Room B169.
Participants will learn to recognize and minimize ergonomic risk factors related to computer use, and prevent related musculoskeletal disorders such as tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and eye and neck strain. The class also covers the selection of furniture, input and comfort devices, setting up an ergonomic work station and stretching and flexibility exercises.
Sign up for ESH Course 583 by contacting a division Training Management System representative.
Chair demonstrations
In conjunction with the ergonomics classes, representatives of ergonomic chair manufacturers will demonstrate the features and proper use of their products.
These demonstrations will be held continuously in Building 202, Room E126 (the ESH training area) from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. No registration or appointment is needed. Other ergonomic items, like adjustable work stations and copy holders, will be on display.
All are welcome to the demonstrations.
A new analog modem dialup service offered by ECT allows 56K bps analog modem dialup access to the Argonne network from anywhere in Northeastern Illinois.
The service is for official laboratory business only.
This new service replaces the existing analog modem service at (630) 252-1591. The current service will be decommissioned Monday, March 13.
The service can lower phone bills by providing local dialup numbers for most areas in northeast Illinois. To obtain a dialup number for a local calling area, see the focal Web page.
Employees should add the new dialup number to their personal computers' dialup networking configuration. Dialup Internet Protocol Properties (TCP/IP) should be configured to automatically accept IP address and DNS configuration information.
For more information, contact Paul Phillips (ECT) at ext. 2-4343.
The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) has set the following retirement-fund rates for the 2nd quarter:
| Fund | Rate | Contributions from | Earned through |
| TIAA Traditional | 7.75% | 3/1/00 - 6/30/00 | 2/28/01 |
| TIAA Supplemental | 7.25% | 3/1/00 - 6/30/00 | 2/28/01 |
Argonne employees who live in Chicago or its southeastern suburbs are in for a rough "construction season" as Phase II of the Stevenson Expressway reconstruction begins.
Lane closures are in place at LaGrange Road and from Kedzie Street to the Dan Ryan Expressway. Road work will continue through October. Starting April 2, construction will include:
Patching and resurfacing in both directions from
west of Kedzie to west of the Des Plaines River.
Restricting the roadway to two lanes in each
direction for the 15 miles from Canal Street to
Willow Springs Road.
The inbound entrance ramp from Archer and First
avenues will be rebuilt. As an alternate, drivers
should take 55th Street or Archer Avenue east to
Harlem Avenue, then Harlem north to the Stevenson.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has designated Archer Avenue, Ogden Avenue and Joliet Road as alternate routes during the Stevenson reconstruction.
For more information, see the IDOT Web Page.
