Audit Report: DOE-OIG-19-40

July 2, 2019

Respiratory Equipment Maintenance at Savannah River Site

The Savannah River Site is a Department of Energy industrial complex responsible for disposition of nuclear materials, waste management, environmental cleanup, and environmental stewardship.  As such, the Savannah River Site processes and stores nuclear materials in support of national defense and U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts.  The Respiratory Protection Program was one of the largest safety and health programs at the Savannah River Site.  The Savannah River Respiratory Protection Program provided technical support to respiratory users and equipment issuers; evaluated new respiratory equipment technologies; and maintained respiratory equipment.  We initiated the audit to determine whether the Savannah River Site was adequately maintaining respiratory protection equipment to protect workers from exposure to hazardous materials.  This report is one in a series of reports at select Office of Environmental Management sites.

We did not identify any instances during our review where the Savannah River Site did not adequately maintain respiratory protection equipment to protect workers from exposure to hazardous materials.  Specifically, Savannah River Site’s Respiratory Protection Program established maintenance procedures, which were performed by Respiratory Equipment Facility personnel to adequately assemble, inspect, and test equipment.  We also determined that employees were up-to-date on their respiratory protection training requirements as of the date of our review.  We did not make any recommendations or suggestions since nothing came to our attention to indicate that the Savannah River Site had not adequately maintained respiratory protection equipment.

Topic: Management and Adminstration