Nuclear safety is of utmost importance for any supplier dealing with the customers in nuclear sector. Various measures need to be undertaken to ensure the wellbeing of employees and customers. Any supplier who deals with the nuclear sector needs to have a culture of safety first in order to meet the demands of this industry. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at the five aspects of nuclear safety and steps we take at ASD to create a culture of safety.
NUCLEAR SAFETY DEFINITION
“Nuclear Safety is the achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards.”
As you can see, nuclear safety is a big responsibility which we must all take seriously!
Many of us can demonstrate our safety-first culture, which focuses our behaviour to ensure that everyone goes home safely at the end of each day. However nuclear safety extends our responsibility to ensure that our actions also protect the environment from undue radiation hazards.
SO HOW DO WE DO THIS AT ASD?
1. We must always provide our customers with metals of the highest quality to ensure nuclear materials are contained effectively – these are known as physical controls, given that they meet our customers’ specific requirements.
2. We ensure unambiguous and well-communicated documentation and admin controls – these are known as local admin controls and include documents such as suppliers’ own procedures, welding procedures, paint procedures, instructions, method statements, quality plans, inspection and test plans, work procedures, risk assessments, etc.
3. We give clear and well-communicated standards and expectations – these standards ensure materials are stored and handled correctly, that the work environment is to a high standard, that consumables are stored and issued correctly and that current procedures are available at point of use.
4. We employ the right people to do the right job – they are referred to as competent and suitably qualified and experienced personnel and we must ensure that our staff have the appropriate training and qualifications to do their job, that we verify their qualifications and experience and that we conduct periodic reviews with them.
5. We have principles, values and behaviours aligned to a nuclear culture – our policy allows our staff to question how a job is done, if they are not comfortable with the process provided to them, or to ask if there is a better, safer way. This is done without fear of retribution.
To ensure that we continue to develop our nuclear safety culture we consult regularly with our partners at the Nuclear Industry Association and advisors at Fit for Nuclear (F4N).
Nuclear safety is everyone’s responsibility and the effective implementation of a nuclear safety culture in the supply chain protects our employees, the public and the environment.
To find out more about other aspects of Nuclear safety click below:
Part II: Nuclear Safety – CFSI Management
Part III: Nuclear Safety – Cross Contamination Controls
Part IV: Nuclear Safety – Testing of Metals
Part V: Nuclear Safety – Integrity
Part VI: Nuclear Safety – Project Management
Part VII: Nuclear Case Study – Supporting Important National Project