AIKEN, S.C. - Savannah River Site (SRS) is taking an innovative approach to ensure employees understand their role in recognizing and responding to abnormal conditions.
In scenario-based training, workers encounter unexpected equipment operations or deviations from procedures in their work environments. They respond and simulate equipment operation and notifications to management or appropriate parties according to protocol.
“These scenarios allow management to judge personnel responses while also allowing us to correct weaknesses, enforce expectations, improve efficiency, and update procedures as needed," said K Area Facility Manager Janice Lawson. “We first performed unannounced coached scenarios to determine the initial state of the shifts. Once we provided feedback, we allotted time for the shifts to work on their identified improvement items. We are now in the process of performing a different graded scenario on each shift. We have seen significant improvements between the coached and graded scenarios."
K Area Shift Manager Stephen Weeks has participated in two drills, He said employees learn from the exercises as a team as they become involved with response procedures and problem-solving in unique ways outside of their day-to-day work life.
“The drills are intensive but are well written and force the team to work their way through the issue. Since there is no way for facility procedures to cover all possible conditions, the scenarios are written so you have to use your system knowledge along with procedures to diagnose the problem," Weeks said.
Personnel participated in scenarios involving an unexpected reading on a pressure indicator and a degraded piece of equipment. They took part in each step, including the discovery of the anomaly, dealing with the issue through shift turnovers, and repair and return of the equipment to service. Training planners will present more scenarios in the future.
Thorough communications between shifts allows for proper documentation of the facility status, abnormal or limiting conditions, and potential future actions.
“This new approach to training is an innovative way to ensure personnel are reacting to unexpected events in the safest and most efficient way possible," DOE Nuclear Materials Manager Maxcine Maxted said. “It’s something that we hope to adopt in other areas around SRS."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
