Lab managers will ALWAYS protect themselves. If you disagree with their incompetence. YOU will be persecuted. Guaranteed!
Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
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Talk to LLNS Health Services about the suicide and proactive future prevention or "lessons learned", and you will be told they can and do provide group grief counseling, but can not "police" the issue. Physician Hippocratic Oath at LLNS? Not so much.
LLNL is becoming the "good old girls" network. I've never seen so many opaque transitions to key roles of non-proven souls.
This tops the "good old boys" network of the 80s. At least then people had vision and were competent scientist and technically.
I'm not sure of the expectation being voiced. Medical has responsibility for psychological evaluations for employees in certain limited categories. There are also things like the Employee Assistance Program and mental health coverage under insurance plans, providing benefits employees can access.
Like any population of human beings, there are suicides among Lab employees. There were certainly so long before contract transition. I'm sorry to hear that there may have been a recent instance within the Engineering ranks, but have no knowledge of that, nor to what degree work issues were a fundamental cause. If they were someone that directly touched your life, I am sorry for your loss and the bewildering questions it may pose for all that were close to them.
At LANL or LLNL, if the probability is low (suicide) but the event is catastrophic (death) we are suppose to consider that scenario. Failure to have a "lessons learned" discussion is essentially saying we don't care nor will we acknowledge such events if it tarnishes our reputation or has legal ramifications for LANSLLNS.
The employees are scared sh______ less for their jobs and are afraid to talk. That is the bottom line.
Outside environment is always a factor.
A LLNS administrative event preceded the act. How many associated administrative events there were prior to the final one would require an investigation.
I'm sure this was not an outcome anyone wanted, but what were the "lessons learned" here for prevention going forward?
And if it was (in part) your response would be to do what?
November 11, 2014 at 6:58 PM
Absolutely nothing. The best advice I ever got was to not worry about things I can do nothing about, and to mind my own business. You can write nasty speculative blog messages all you want, I hope it makes you feel better. If I had known the victim, my response would be known to his family, but not to you. This tragedy should not be made a public spectacle. Get over yourself.
What do you believe is speculative exactly? With your reasoning anything out of your control is not worth concerning yourself with? So carry on and hope for the best? Not your responsibility yes? What about compassion for your fellow employees in the same work environment?
I understand employees are afraid, but please refrain from criticizing those of us wanting to work in a healthy work environment.
Condolences to the family are important, but that alone does not address workplace environmental factors, and you know this. Given the magnitude of the issue, the only employees wanting this matter to go away are those involved.
November 11, 2014 at 8:24 PM
Shouldn't that wisdom be enough for you?? What gives you the right to butt your nose in where you have no business? If you think your work environment isn't "healthy" call the health department, or leave, or just please stfu. You don't always get to express what you think, at least if you have any sense of propriety or manners.
If its a misuse of a tool, a misuse of a ladder, not following an IWS procedure, or some other "worker bee" fault, it becomes a broadcasted "lessons learned". If management is partially in the fault loop, "butt out" and "mind your own business", or leave?
What LLNS division to you work in so I can stay far away from it.
Staff Relations Division would be a good guess or one of their "clients".
November 11, 2014 at 9:24 PM
I don't work at LLNL. Just can't abide people who insist they have a "right" to sped all their time looking for reasons to point fingers at other people. I don't disagree that the environment at LLNL is toxic, but you are a major reason for that. Your righteous outrage is disingenuous and fooling no one. If you don't like being treated like an out-of-control juvenile, stop acting like one.
The hush hush under the shroud of privacy concerns is disingenuous. Why so defensive? If you don't like this blog, take your own advice, consider it "none of your business" and don't read it or "butt in". This was the "best advice" you ever received.
Before you do leave this blog, why don't you inform its readers what topics are or are not worthy of your approval. Beyond employee suicides, what about bully managers, sexual harassment, intimidation, fraud, conflict of interest, etc. Are theses topics "out of ones control" and unimportant too? We don't want to say anything that will upset you.
Employee morale is at an all time low because of
people just like you. When employees are threatened or intimidated, the information will ooz out on a blog.
Fix the retaliation culture at LLNS and your unfavorable blog content will go away on its own.
You probably wouldn't feel that way if it were your or your family's privacy that were being protected. The privacy laws, especially if it is related to medical issues, are very strict.
You raise a good point on family privacy, but that must be considered against an improved circumstance for others. For example, I may not want the general public to know that I was (fictitiously) a victim of contract fraud, but on the other hand, I certainty would not want others to endure the same. Steps taken to prevent a repeat by the offender might be worth it. A perspective you may wish to consider. The "act" of the employee is not one to easily dismiss.
November 12, 2014 at 3:46 PM
Not necessary. LLNS would face serious legal problems even without it. The lawyers aren't stupid.