Minutes from May 16, 2002, VPP Steering Committee Meeting

VPP Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, May 16, 2002, 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
EESB Snoqualmie Room

ISO 14001 Presentation

Dave Carroll gave a presentation on ISO 14001 and why the Lab wants to achieve it. Dave -- who is the PNNL ISO 14001 Project Manager -- noted the similarities between ISO 14001 registration and achieving VPP Star status. Dave asked the committee to allow for the expansion of the VPP philosophy to include environmental protection, and intends to use the committee's experiences, processes and tools to drive the ISO program. The committee voted to allow the use of the Porcelain Press to show its support for the ISO program.

VPP Self-Assessment

During PNNL's VPP Self-Assessment conducted late last year, six issues were identified across the Laboratory for corrective action:

• Consistent use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Owner is Roby Enge. This action states that minimum requirements of activity-based PPE needs to be consistently interpreted across the Lab, and that requirements for adequate PPE must be consistently interpreted and enforced across the Lab.
• Timely and adequate response to employee concerns. Owner is the VPP Steering Committee. This action states that criteria should be established for when and how to document employee concerns (including stop work actions), and that a process must be established to capture, track, and provide status and feedback regarding actions resulting from employee concerns.
• Use of results from assessments, incidents (including near misses), and lessons learned. Owner is Steve Slate. This action states that identification and sharing of results from assessments, incidents, and lessons learned can be improved related to sharing of this information across organizations.
• Sub-contractor safety. Owner is Sharon Dossett. This action states that progress made since the last VPP program evaluation related to using subcontractor safety performance as a selection criteria must be evaluated; it also stresses improved subcontractor compliance with safety requirements.
• IOPS reading assignments. Owner is Larry Kimmel. This action states the possible improvement of IOPS deliver of required reading assignments to provide concise, relevant, timely information to workers.
• VPP Steering Committee improvement. Owner is the VPP Steering Committee. This action states the need to identify a committed researcher to serve as co-chair (action has been completed), the need to document a process to deal with succession of officers and other rules of order, and the need to maintain momentum.

2002 VPP Region X Conference

Mary Ann Showalter and Elwood Lepel each gave brief overviews of the breakout sessions (employee involvement, ergonomics, etc.) they attended at the conference, held April 24 - 25, 2002, in Couer d'Alene. Elwood also mentioned the possibility of obtaining some blood pressure monitors (he provided literature obtained in the vendor room at the conference) to "travel" from building to building. Roby Enge expressed interest and took some literature to follow up.

2003 VPP Region X Conference

This conference will be held May 5 - 9, 2002, at the Westcoast Hotel in Pasco.

Hanford Site Safety Expo

Vern Madson reported that 33,391 people attended this year's Expo, a new record.

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