McCook to lead Environment, Safety and Health/Quality Assurance at Argonne

ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 27, 2006) — Robert H. McCook has been named director of Environment, Safety and Health/Quality Assurance for the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

McCook brings extensive leadership experience to an organization that develops and oversees safety and quality policies and assessment performance with continued reliance on the laboratory's line organization to implement safety and quality requirements.

His responsibilities will include oversight of the laboratory's quality assurance, radiological safety, Price-Anderson Amendments Act, occurrence reporting, environment, safety and health and Integrated Safety Management efforts. He will also oversee independent and management assessments.

"Bob's wide range of experience, coupled with his comprehensive knowledge of the Department of Energy's quality assurance requirements and environment, safety and health regulations, will be an immense asset to the laboratory," said Argonne Director Robert Rosner. "He will ensure that the laboratory improves its already rigorous safety standards as we work to develop new energy technologies."

McCook will report to Argonne's directorate, and will interface with the University of Chicago Board of Governors Environment, Safety and Health Committee and with the U.S. Department of Energy on all environment, safety and health and quality assurance matters and related performance indicators.

Previously, McCook was manager of contractor assurance and compliance and Price-Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA) coordinator for Bechtel Nevada. He was credited with turning around a failed program and a company culture that lacked rigor in compliance with the PAAA program and its requirements.

McCook also served Bechtel Nevada as a performance assurance engineer and supervisor for Work Smart Standards administration. Additionally, he oversaw the lessons-learned process and conduct and training of the root-cause analysis and critique process. In this position, McCook served as the lead critique director and facilitator of the PAAA noncompliance evaluations and led PAAA program improvement.

His national laboratory experience includes a tenure as supervisor of training at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory from October 1999 to August 2001.

McCook served 23 years with the U.S. Navy, 20 of which were in middle to upper management and supervisory positions. He served in a variety of roles, ranging from operations coordinator for aircraft/flight deck operations to maintenance and material control management.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.