Frequently Asked Questions

What is ISM?

ISM is the integration of safety awareness and good practices into all aspects of work conducted at DOE. Simply stated, work should be conducted in such a manner that protects workers and other people, and does not cause harm to the environment. Safety is an integral part of each job -- not a stand-alone program.

ISM consists of 7 Guiding Principles/5 Core Functions of Integrated Safety Management:

7 Guiding Principles

  • Line Management Responsibility for Safety: Line management is directly responsible for the protection of the public, the workers, and the environment. As a complement to line management, the Department's Office of Environment, Safety and Health provides safety policy, enforcement, and independent oversight functions.
     

  • Clear Roles and Responsibilities: Clear and unambiguous lines of authority and responsibility for ensuring safety shall be established and maintained at all organized levels within the Department and its contractors.
     

  • Competence Commensurate with Responsibilities: Personnel shall possess the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities that are necessary to discharge their responsibilities.
     

  • Balanced Priorities: Resources shall be effectively allocated to address safety, programmatic, and operational considerations. Protecting the public, the workers, and the environment shall be a priority whenever activities are planned and performed.
     

  • Identification of Safety Standards and Requirements: Before work is performed, the associated hazards shall be evaluated and an agreed-upon set of safety standards and requirements shall be established which, if properly implemented, will provide adequate assurance that the public, the workers, and the environment are protected from adverse consequences.
     

  • Hazard Controls Tailored to Work Being Performed: Administrative and engineering controls to prevent and mitigate hazards shall be tailored to the work being performed and associated hazards.
     

  • Operations Authorization: The conditions and requirements to be satisfied for operations to be initiated and conducted shall be clearly established and agreed-upon.

5 Core Functions

  • Define the Scope of Work: Missions are translated into work, expectations are set, tasks are identified and prioritized, and resources are allocated.
     

  • Analyze the Hazards: Hazards are associated with the work identified, analyzed, and categorized.
     

  • Develop and Implement Hazard Controls: Applicable standards and requirements are identified and agreed-upon, controls to prevent/mitigate hazards are identified, the safety envelope is established, and controls are implemented.
     

  • Perform Work Within Controls: Readiness is confirmed and work is performed safely.
     

  • Provide Feedback and Continuous Improvement: Feedback information on the adequacy of controls is gathered, opportunities for improving the definition and planning of work are identified and implemented, line and independent oversight is conducted, and, if necessary, regulatory enforcement actions occur.

What is Work Management?

Work Management is a deliberate process in which a scope of work is identified, selected, planned, scheduled, executed, closed and critiqued. Scope of work includes maintenance, D&D, production, waste management, projects, and R&D activities. The Work Management process requires the full support of the entire organization (e.g., Operations, Engineering, ESH&Q, Planning & Scheduling, Maintenance, etc.).

What is Enhanced Work Planning?

Enhanced Work Planning (EWP) is a process that evaluates and improves the site programs by which work is identified, planned, approved, controlled, and executed. The key elements of EWP are:

  • Line management ownership: EWP cannot be imposed on line management. It must be sponsored by Line managers who accept responsibility for safety, health, and quality assurance. Successful EWP projects are characterized by managers with a positive attitude about safety and quality, who seek out the organizational support necessary to implement EWP tenets and have the leadership skills, knowledge, and authority to use EWP to improve their programs.
     

  • Organizationally diverse teams: Work management teams consist of planners, engineers, workers, environmental, safety and health professionals (including radiological control specialists, if appropriate), training professionals, and line managers. These teams eliminate sequential review and input to the planning process which is inefficient time-wise. Teams also provide synergism as they examine potential safety, operational, and productivity issues.
     

  • A graded approach to work management, based on risk and complexity
    Varying levels of hazards and hazard control dictate that not every work task requires the same degree of rigor in planning and execution. EWP helps sites develop criteria for determining which tasks can be performed better, faster, safer, and cheaper by relying on the skill of the craft. Tasks such as routine maintenance may benefit from team planning to facilitate coordination of resources but do not require the same degree of scrutiny and documentation as complex, non-routine tasks.
     

  • Worker involvement beginning at the earliest phases of work management
    "Worker" refers to everyone with a role in accomplishing the work. The unique perspective of line workers injects "reality" into the work management process as no other member of the planning team can. Furthermore, the quality of work performed often parallels the degree of ownership experienced by workers. Workers' morale improves when their opinions and expertise are demonstrably valued.
     

  • Organized, institutionalized communication: Building upon existing, successful programs can save considerable time and money. Sites that are initiating pilot projects benefit from the programs and lessons learned at sites with existing, successful EWP programs. Sites ready to migrate their pilot project to additional areas onsite can share strategies and approaches with other sites in similar circumstances. Programs, procedures, software tools, and training courses are freely shared among EWP sites to minimize duplicative efforts and maximize resource utilization.

What is DNFSB Recommendation 2004-1?

What is 2004-1?

The overarching objective of Recommendation 2004-1, Oversight of Complex, High-Hazard Nuclear Operations, is to ensure that DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration organizational changes will not increase the likelihood of a low-probability, high-consequence nuclear accident. Those changes include:

  1. Increasing the use of performance-based contracts, which could result in contractors putting production goals ahead of safety.
  2. Streamlining requirements, which could reduce the effectiveness of necessary safety standards.
  3. Decentralizing oversight, which could compromise DOE's central role of in self-regulation of nuclear safety, delaying actions to correct complex-wide safety issues, and depleting technical capabilities.

The cornerstones of the Recommendation are: (1) re-establishment of central, headquarters awareness and control of major nuclear safety issues; and (2) formation of a sustainable capability that will maintain and advance the scientific and engineering understanding of nuclear safety.

What is a Knowledge Portal?

A Knowledge Portal is one of the technology tools employed in the discipline of Knowledge Management to facilitate the sharing of an organization's explicit, as well as tacit, knowledge on a given subject. A Knowledge Portals differs from common web sites in that it:

  1. provide users with a collaborative work space where users can work on common documents, and
  2. allow users to share ideas and strategies in real time on-line in discussion forums.

While the usefulness of working collaboratively on-line is intuitively obvious, the real value of a Portals is its ability to capture thoughts and ideas normally shared in meetings and conference calls. Unlike a conference call or meeting however, discussion forums allow, not just meeting participants, but users as well, to draw upon knowledge and information within the forums discussions for days, weeks, and even years later, and in their original context.

What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge Management is an explicit, systematic approach for creating, accessing, validating and applying knowledge needed to accomplish goals and objectives. It is about leveraging intellectual capital to improve effectiveness, efficiency and innovation.  Because of this, the President�s Management Agenda recognizes Knowledge Management at an effective tool for accomplishing it's Human Capital Agenda Item

Knowledge Management is fundamentally about viewing knowledge as a principle resource of an organization and focusing on answering three core questions:

  • what knowledge do we need to accomplish our goals and objectives?
  • how do we create, locate or obtain the needed knowledge?
  • how do we communicate and apply the needed knowledge?