Corrective Action Programs: Fixing safety problems-and keeping them fixed

摘要

Sometimes good is just not good enough. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a leading research institution, has a respectable (and in recent years greatly improved) overall worker safety record. Still, the laboratory's fame as the home of the atomic bomb, plus routine high-hazard operations involving radioactive materials, high explosives, as well as a wide range of top-secret activities, can make virtually any misstep front-page news. In such an environment, safety and security lapses-especially repeat deficiencies-must be held to the absolute minimum. This article describes how the site established its corrective action program in order to eliminate repeat accidents and incidents. Employees and customers were involved in its creation from the start. Much more than a tracking system, this program includes steps to ensure that all relevant issues are not only captured in a centralized database, but also are effectively managed from discovery to closure and demonstrated effectiveness. The program also contains provisions to ensure that management is proactively and directly involved in finding solutions to its own problems and that lessons learned from any incident are shared with other laboratory facilities and organizations to prevent recurrence. When fully implemented, the corrective action program is expected to play a key role in establishing a "find and fix" culture and in promoting continuous improvement throughout the laboratory.