Safety in the Underground Construction and Operation of the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain (1995) / Chapter Skim
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Underground Construction Safety: Be Sure You're on the Right Track
Underground Construction Safety: Be Sure You're on the Right Track
Pages 1-12
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is striving to demonstrate the leadership necessary to make excellence in safety and health the rule rather than the exception. Of DOE initiatives underway, contract reform and external regulation have particular relevance to the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP)
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Contract Reform The first initiative is contract reform. DOE is developing changes to its contracting process that will better define expectations, measure performance, improve incentives, and strengthen departmental management of contracts.
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The issue of regulatory oversight of big tunnel projects is a top-priority topic that should be kept in perspective. Despite some views to the contrary, regulatory oversight will not, in any way, relieve DOE of the responsibility to enforce the safety and health provisions of contracts, nor in any way relieve DOE or its contractors from liability for accidents for which culpability can be shown.
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In 1992, surface construction accidental fatalities numbered ~ 8, as compared with 5 underground, according to Mine Safety arid Health Administration data. While the overall safety record of underground construction has improved considerably, there are obviously some big qualifiers.
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In this last case, the subsequent investigation found that DOE and its construction manager relied unduly on the construction contractor's previous experience and positive safety record on another project for assurance that safety would be properly addressed. However, as the investigation determined, at the time of the accident the contractor was using a different tunnel boring machine than at the previous job, with differing controls, in a different size tunnel, within a different geological formation, and with a crew that had, in part, changed job assignments since their last tunnel project.
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Subcontractor Management Responsibility and Liability In parts of the DOE complex, as in private industry, many construction managers and owners are reluctant to dictate or become involved in subcontractor safety and health programs, due to concerns about increased liability exposure, whether real or perceived. In the federal sector, these liability concerns have been heightened due to the muchpublicized case of the Aberdeen Three in which three civilian federal employees of the Army Aberdeen Proving Ground were convicted of environmental crimes.
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DOE is meeting the need for more explicit departmental direction on construction job hazard analyses through the issuance of the upcoming DOE Order 5480.9A, "Construction Project Safety and Health Management." Within this Order, hazard analyses are addressed through a required preliminary hazard analysis prior to the commencement of a construction project and an activity hazard analysis prior to the commencement of work on any phase of the project. About 20 percent of all construction injuries occur within the first month a worker reports to a new work site; about 90 percent fall within the first 12 months.
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DOE's Nevada Operations Office investigation found, for example, that the placement of equipment in the tunnel impeded egress. Similarly, air hoses were tied off by the workers to the tunnel walls, slowing escape with protective equipment intact.
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That is, the approach to safety is one that provides sufficient design and operational provisions such that if one or even two safety features fail (for example, a hazard analysis fails to predict flammable gases or a piece of personal protective equipment fails to function) the situation remains recoverable, with other options and backups to prevent worker injury or death.
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10 Safety in the Underground Construction awl Operation of the Exploratory Studies Facility improvements must be balanced against any associated loss of efficiency and cost, but the best companies have proven that such accident prevention is invariably cost-effective. CONCLUSION In conclusion, given the risk inherent in underground construction, the industry has made commendable strides in accident prevention.
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~FE~NCE The New Yoga Tamed November 28, 1993. Sechon ~ p.
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