LATEST NEWS
Friday, December 17, 2004
All depot workers
being re-trained
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Calling a
Dec. 1 incident a “near-miss,” a Umatilla Chemical Depot official from the
weapons disposal facility said all 700 workers are being re-trained. Destruction
of chemical weapons are on hold until that is complete.
The incident, an unclamping of a working filter unit in the ventilation
system of the building, put at least two workers in danger of chemical agent
exposure.
“We’re taking this event very seriously,” Doug Hamrick said Thursday
night at a Citizens Advisory Commission meeting. “We could have hurt somebody.”
Hamrick is the general manager for the Washington Demilitarization
Company, the contractor operating the weapons disposal facility for the U.S.
Army.
Operations at the depot have been on hold the past two weeks since
the incident. It is the third operational error that has temporarily suspended
the destruction of chemical weapons since the Army began processing its stockpile
of nearly 7.4 million pounds of chemical warfare in September.
At the same meeting Thursday, state regulator Dennis Murphey emphasized
concerns he had that the workers ignored markings on the door to the filter
unit warning them from entering, particularly after workers also ignored
door markings in a similar event that occurred a week after the facility
began processing weapons.
In both instances, workers were not wearing the correct level of
protection for the rooms they entered. In the first, workers took a shortcut
through a room storing chemical agent despite a sign on the door that warned
them away. In the most recent, workers entered an area marked with yellow
and brown tape signifying possible chemical agent exposure.
A checks-and-balance system with supervisors on the ground and in
a control room where events at the facility are monitored by video failed
to prevent the violation.
“Everybody I’ve talked to is really stunned that it happened,” said
Murphey, administrator for the state Department of Environmental Quality’s
chemical demilitarization program. “It’s extremely important that all the
workers recognize and appreciate the consequences of the actions they’re
taking.”
At least two employees were disciplined, but no one was fired as
a result of the incident earlier this month, Hamrick said.
He declined to elaborate on the disciplinary actions, or whether
or not any supervisors were also disciplined.
“We looked at all the people involved and took appropriate action,”
he said.
He said the two workers who unclamped the door were forthright about
their actions, but embarrassed. Hamrick added the workers are helping put
procedures in place to prevent another such event.
During a break in the meeting, Mike Strong, deputy site manager for
the U.S. Army, said he is comfortable with the contractor’s responses to
each incident, and that he was not aware of any penalties the contractor
faces as a result of them.
Strong said the contractor responded to the first incident very specifically,
concentrating corrections on a specific area. He said he now believes the
contractor is doing a much more global job in training the work force to
recognize colored boundary tapes and signs posted on doors.
Hamrick said he believes only a “small percentage” of the work force
doesn’t understand the significance of the door markings.
Training levels vary, he said, based on job categories. Some workers
will go through six to seven weeks of training; others several years. All
must pass an exam before they are permitted to work.
In response to the recent incident, the contractor has required all
workers to meet one on one with supervisors and go through a checklist of
training information, ensuring they understand procedures, Hamrick said.
In addition, one worker in each group of workers on each shift will
be responsible for monitoring communications between workers, their supervisors
and the control room.
Twenty managers are also splitting day and night shifts to bridge
communication gaps that might occur between the crews, Hamrick said.
He said no deadline is set for when processing of the depot’s chemical
weapons will begin again.