EM and its contractors like to keep their ears open in the local area for small businesses that can help address unexpected problems, especially during the pandemic.
Engineers at Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP), the deactivation and remediation contractor for EM’s Paducah Site, recently found themselves with a supply-chain problem when manufacturers of electronic personal dosimeter (EPD) earpieces stopped making them.
The earpieces are used at the Paducah cleanup site to ensure workers in high-noise areas are able to easily hear safety alarms. The EPDs detect harmful substances in real time and sound an alarm. This helps ensure employees know when they need to evacuate an area.
While most personnel can be alerted by the plant’s public address system, those working around loud equipment like mowers or power tools are issued EPDs for added safety.
To solve its supply problem, FRNP engineers reached out to Warehouse Guitar Speakers (WGS), a local business that manufactures guitar speakers, and commissioned the company to provide the EPDs. Though not a typical project for the company, WGS had the required capabilities and responded successfully.
“This was an opportunity for our team to utilize an existing relationship with a local business to provide equipment for our employees to ensure they are safe,” FRNP Program Manager Myrna Redfield said. “When we can work with small businesses, especially those so close to home, it’s a win-win for everyone.”
EM values regional small businesses and encourages its contractors to develop ongoing partnerships with them whenever possible. EM contractors are active members of local and regional chambers of commerce and other organizations where they become part of the business community near their sites. An added benefit of EM doing business with neighbors is support for local jobs and tax revenues.
“One of the many advantages of being connected to the local community is site workers finding solutions to problems that can be more easily solved with local vendors,” said Jennifer Woodard, the Paducah Site lead with EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. “This is an example of innovative thinking, and it speaks to the level of sophistication many local businesses offer.”
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