Over 270 Workshop Attendees Continue Building Strong Safety Culture

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM’s Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) and contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) last week hosted the 2023 DOE Safety Culture Improvement Panel (SCIP) Annual Meeting and Safety Culture Workshop, where participants focused on all aspects of safety culture, with a special emphasis on psychological safety.

“DOE continues to promote a safety culture that embraces diversity of thought,” EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery said in a keynote address to over 270 attendees. “We benefit not only from strong technical and operational experience, but also from the different backgrounds, life experiences and points of view that our diverse workforce brings to our mission. We are at our best when we fully mobilize the diverse talents and viewpoints of our workforce.”

Establishing a strong safety culture in which safe performance of work and involvement of workers in all aspects of work performance is a core DOE value.

Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk expressed the Department’s commitment to a healthy safety culture in recorded remarks shared at the start of the workshop meeting. And Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has shared her expectations for establishing and maintaining a positive culture in a previously recorded video.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that safety is a core value at the Department. Safe performance of work is the overriding priority when we plan and complete our work. It must be incorporated into every aspect of our jobs to successfully complete our mission,” Granholm has said.

Psychological safety is integral to promoting a safety conscious work environment, a positive safety culture and strong organizational climate. Presenters at the meeting explained that psychological safety is a shared belief held by team members that it’s OK to take risks, express their ideas and concerns, speak up with questions and admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.

“Creating a healthy safety culture environment starts with an individual,” said Avery.

Established in 2015, SCIP is led by co-chairs Jack Zimmerman, director of the EM Consolidated Business Center, and Todd Lapointe, director of the DOE Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security. The SCIP provides:

• A permanent, high-level organization within DOE devoted to promoting safety culture;
• Cross-organizational leaders focused on continuous safety culture improvement; and
• A forum to exchange information and ideas to establish, monitor and sustain measures supporting a strong safety culture.

“The collaboration of so many experts passionate about safety culture from across the Department is a real win for the SCIP,” Zimmerman said. “The discussions and lessons learned shared at the workshop provide the stimulus for attendees to return to their offices better equipped to continue strengthening the Department’s safety culture.”

The meeting included a plenary session featuring presentations on safety culture best practices by safety culture subject matter experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics Space Administration, as well as SCIP members and DOE employees and contractors. Over 26 breakout sessions highlighted DOE’s safety culture focus areas of leadership, employee engagement and organizational learning.

“Safety is fundamental to EM. Success in our mission is only achieved when we eliminate the nation’s greatest environmental liabilities while adhering to the highest standards of safety,” Avery said following the workshop. “DOE’s safety culture journey is a process to achieve a strong safety culture that will never end.”

Avery added, “It is a journey, not a destination.”