Director’s Corner
By Jonathan DorfanWithout exception,
SLAC’s great accomplishments have been due to the collective efforts of
the staff—everyone cooperating together as a ‘team’ to conquer mountains
both big and small.
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Photo by Diana
Rogers |
We now need the participation of the full SLAC team to
reduce our accident rates and to help bring injured employees back to
health and back to work. While we can be very proud of SLAC’s historical
safety record, we had significantly more accidents last year than the
year before. In addition, the number of accidents last year exceeded the
goal set for the Laboratory complex by our funding agency, the
Department of Energy, Office of Science. Whereas two years ago we had
the lowest accident rate in the Office of Science complex, we now fall
in the quartile of the least good performers.
We need to take action now, both to protect our employees’ health and to
meet the DOE’s goals. I am optimistic that, as with our other many
challenges, we can reduce accident rates through our coordinated
efforts, our intellect and our dedication to the health and safety of
our fellow employees. Toward that end, I will be leading a Task Force to
implement a program to involve all elements of the laboratory in
reducing employee occupational injury and illness. In addition, the Task
Force will seek better strategies to help those injured or sick get the
treatment they need to get healthy sooner and to come back to work as
rapidly as is medically appropriate.
I will keep you informed as the program elements are developed and are
ready for your engagement. I look forward to your full and enthusiastic
cooperation. Have a safe and healthy month and please remember that
placing operational expediency above health and safety is never
appropriate.
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