Anonymously contributed (not verified):
Be: there were two Be incidents at LLNL last week; 321A personal where found machining Be in a uncontroled area. the personal where exposed to the Be and had to be treated for the exposure.383 someone had brought Be into the 383 machine shop offices thus exposing personal and facility to Be.
11 comments:
LLNL is hyper sensitive to Be exposure these days so it is incredible to hear that somebody (a machinst?) was machining the stuff in violation of procedure. What must have been going through his/her head? Maybe they just made the mistake of machining it in an area not approved for Be but were being cautious? The other incident described seems like much ado about nothing. ES&H gets nervous if you walk across the room with a chunk of Be. Even if you have a material that is less than 1% Be (Copper beryllium) they blast off.
geeze... who writes this stuff - third graders?
Berrylium is also used in other industries outside of the weapons complex. While it is wise to treat it with some respect when it is machined into parts, I doubt these other industries treat it like it was some type of deadly poison.
Sorry, the OSHA rules apply to everyone,
I hear 321 and many other places could be down for as long as six months while there's a BIG investigation. I guess all the work slated for 321 will have to go outside the gates. My question is, whose wise idea was it to have this project done in 321, an area where it should have never been. I don't think those who were doing the work were informed of the content.
"Sorry, the OSHA rules apply to everyone." - 8:29 PM
Yes, but the strict rules and policies handed down by DOE and NNSA go way beyond even the OSHA rules.
The two incidents are tied together; the 321 issue crosas contaminated into 383. I suspect this is a worker who did a bad: not approved work in an incorrect area. If this is so we should all fairly ask where is accountability for the person who did the work, the person who allowed the work, the person who released the material...etc. When do we expect accountability equally applied.
We would be in great shape if we only had to follow OSHA rules.....it's all the other bs that LLNL demands.......don't blame DOE and NNSA because you blindly follow with out questioning the logic!
Since this is sure to hit LLNS in the pocket book, one can be assured at least 1 head will roll.
I noticed on Friday there was a link on the Lab's portal that was warning people to be aware of what they are working on, that items we have lying around may have hazardous materials.
That would indicate that someone was working on piece of material that unknowingly had Beryllium in it.
That would be the least egregious scenario. The others include knowingly breaking protocols and working on a known hazardous material in an unsafe manner.
Bottom line, do I have to do the Beryllium awareness class TWICE this year?
You can bet there will be promotions and new high level job created.
Well I have been out of the lab for 2 years now. I see things have not changed much. I have to go every 2 years to the hospital to be checked out for beryllium. I spend 3-5 days away from my family. I am poked prodded endurance tested and a controlled drowning preformed. Not to mention they take up to 12 biopsies from my lung. I have to do this every 2 years for the rest of my life. This is just to find out if I have CBD. This is a serious problem and if anyone of the upper management had to go through this they would understand what a toll this takes on the individual as well as there family.
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