AIKEN, S.C. - Three Savannah River Site (SRS) contractors won the state of South Carolina’s 2017 Palmetto Shining Star Safety Award for exemplary safety performance in 2016.
The award went to EM’s liquid-waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR), security contractor Centerra, and management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS).
SRR exceeded one million hours without a workday lost to injury in 2016. Its injury rate was at least 75 percent below the South Carolina average injury rate for similar industries. SRR has more than 3 million safe hours to date and an injury rate of 0.46 per 100 employees, well below the state average of 2.0 per 100 employees. The SRR construction workforce recently surpassed 29 million safe hours since 1998.
SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster is proud the SRR team maintains a strong safety culture.
“Throughout the lifetime of the contract, SRR has been recognized as a leader in safety," Foster said. “As we head toward the end of eight years of successful liquid-waste operations, obtaining the 2017 Palmetto Shining Star Safety Award demonstrates our continued commitment to safety."
Centerra, the site’s security support contractor, set a company record by achieving nearly 1.4 million hours without a workday lost to injury in 2016.
Centerra General Manager Mark Bolton stressed the significance of the company’s safety culture.
“We understand the importance of maintaining a safe work environment in all operations, and our goal every day must be to avoid injury," Bolton said.
SRNS attained more than 9.7 million safe hours in 2016 by safely conducting highly technical and hazardous operations without a workday lost to injury in 2016. The SRNS employee injury rate was significantly less than the state average - 0.27 per 100 employees for its construction workforce and 0.15 per 100 employees for its operations workforce.
“We're proud of our employees earning this recognition," said SRNS President and CEO Stuart MacVean. “Our culture is nurtured and sustained by frontline workers who are driven by a genuine desire to perform their work as safely as possible."
The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation presented certificates to 26 South Carolina-based companies recognizing safety excellence.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
