Oak Ridge Today

Expanded Safety Fest 2015 set for September

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Safety Fest TN

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Safer workplaces result in safer communities. Why? Because workers who learn safe practices on the job take them home and into their communities. In Oak Ridge, once a year, an event is held to ensure safer communities by offering free safety classes to anyone who registers.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership, partnering with numerous businesses and organizations will host Safety Fest TN, a week of safety classes, live demonstrations, a Safety Expo, and a community safety forum—all free of charge.  The event is scheduled for September 14-18 with classes at six locations in Oak Ridge and Knoxville.

“This year’s Safety Fest TN is popping at the seams with classes, demonstrations, seminars, a Safety Expo, and a community brunch that celebrates safety,” said Jenny Freeman, chair of the ORBSP planning committee, which is responsible for organizing the event. “We’ve got something for everyone.”

One of the main events is a community safety forum with Joe Estey, a national safety specialist, who brings innovative solutions to potential safety challenges facing some of the country’s highest hazard and complex industries. [Read more…]

Expanded Safety Fest 2015 set for September

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Safety Fest TN

Submitted

Safer workplaces result in safer communities. Why? Because workers who learn safe practices on the job take them home and into their communities. In Oak Ridge, once a year, an event is held to ensure safer communities by offering free safety classes to anyone who registers.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership, or ORBSP, partnering with numerous businesses and organizations will host Safety Fest TN, a week of safety classes, live demonstrations, a Safety Expo, and a community safety forum—all free of charge. The event is scheduled for September 14-18, with classes at six locations in Oak Ridge and Knoxville.

“This year’s Safety Fest TN is popping at the seams with classes, demonstrations, seminars, a Safety Expo, and a community brunch that celebrates safety,” said Jenny Freeman, chair of the ORBSP planning committee, which is responsible for organizing the event. “We’ve got something for everyone.”

One of the main events is a community safety forum with Joe Estey, a national safety specialist, who brings innovative solutions to potential safety challenges facing some of the country’s highest hazard and complex industries. [Read more…]

Safety forum on Wednesday to focus on worker accident

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Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership

Forum to feature ORNL Excess Property Sales event and how complacency had near-fatal impact

The Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership is having a community safety forum from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 3, at the American Museum of Science and Energy. The safety forum, free of charge and open to the public, will explore an accident in which a worker was seriously injured that occurred earlier in 2014 during a routine transfer of excess equipment from UT-Battelle to the public.

Jimmy Stone, UT-Battelle’s Facilities and Operations Director, will make a presentation about the accident, focusing specifically on what could have been done to have prevented it from occurring, a press release said. [Read more…]

Safety Fest TN: ORAU, CNS experts to discuss effective safety communications

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Free seminar draws upon lessons learned at Uranium Processing Facility Project

Health and safety experts from Oak Ridge Associated Universities and a communications specialist from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex, will discuss effective safety communications during Safety Fest TN in Oak Ridge this week.

The ORAU experts are David Duncan and Jeffrey Miller, and the CNS communications specialist is Kathryn King.

Their seminar, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 9, informs organizations on how to improve the effectiveness of safety communications by first examining how communication breakdowns contributed to well-known safety catastrophes, like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an ORAU press release said. They will also present detailed instructions on how to develop an effective safety communications plan, methods for implementing and monitoring the plan, and techniques for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of safety communications.

“Successful case studies will be presented including experiences from the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility Project, where the effectiveness of safety communications has dramatically improved over a three-year period after implementing these methods,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Expanded Safety Fest set for September

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Safety Fest TN

Making Tennesseans safer at work

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Virtually any company will tell you that worker safety is job one.

In Oak Ridge, there’s an event every year to help make sure the words get turned into action. For the third consecutive year, the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership, partnering with a number of organizations, will host Safety Fest TN, a week of safety classes, safety seminars, a Safety Expo, and a community Safety Forum—all free of charge to anyone who registers. The event is scheduled for September 8-12 and is based at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

“We appreciate Consolidated Nuclear Security working with us to accommodate Safety Fest TN and for sponsoring the community brunch on September 8,” said Jenny Freeman, chair of the ORBSP planning committee, which is responsible for organizing the event.

Classes will also be held at five other locations, including Centro Hispano in Knoxville, where courses will be offered in Spanish. The addition of Spanish language classes is a new and important outreach. [Read more…]

Safety forum to focus on UPF nuclear safety culture

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

The Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership will have its first community safety forum of 2014 from 8-10 a.m. April 2 at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge. The topic will be “Nuclear Safety Culture of the Uranium Processing Facility.”

The agenda includes an overview of the UPF project by Federal Project Director John Eschenberg; a presentation about the project’s nuclear safety culture by Project Director Carl Strock; and a presentation on how the project successfully manages its nuclear safety culture by UPF Acting Manager for Environment, Safety, and Health Gary Hagan and ORAU Senior Scientist Jeff Miller.

The ORBSP was formed in 2004 to help companies working on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation understand the DOE safety culture, to enhance communication among them, to share lessons learned about safety issues, and to share ideas about effective safety programs with commercial companies. [Read more…]

Commercial, nuclear facilities the focus of safety forum on Wednesday

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The Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership will hold its last community safety forum of 2013 on Wednesday at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The program is titled “Safety in Commercial and Nuclear Facilities: Programs that Work.” It’s scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Speakers include Shane Strickland, Alcoa safety manager;  Paul Wasilko, safety culture program manager at the Y-12 National Security Complex; Chris Patton, safety services division director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Doug Giles, plant protection safety area manager at Eastman. Each will make a 15-minute presentation about the safety program at his facility, followed by a panel discussion at the end with audience questions and answers. [Read more…]

First Safety Fest starts Sept. 11 at New Hope Center

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The first Oak Ridge Safety Fest will be held Sept. 11-14 at the New Hope Center and other venues.

The purpose of Safety Fest is to offer free training to promote safety and good health at work and home, a press release said. It is sponsored by the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership.

At least 30 courses, all taught by experienced volunteer trainers, will be offered for free to anyone who registers at www.safetyfest-oakridge.org, the release said.

[Read more…]