Brookhaven National Laboratory
Response to the Bari Committee Report

May 1, 1997

On March 3, 1997, the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) appointed a committee to review the Laboratory's Environmental, Safety & Health decision-making process and to make recommendations for the improvement of the Lab's environmental, health and safety programs. The committee was headed by Robert Bari, Chair of BNL's Department of Advanced Technology, with members that included a representative from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.

The Committee's recommendations address the need for clearer management roles and responsibilities at the Laboratory, improvements in how the existing ranking system for environmental, health and safety programs is used, and the benefits of instituting a comprehensive and proactive site-wide hazards assessment and control system.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is prepared to aggressively act on the Committee's recommendations.

Over the next several months we intend to take the following initiatives to begin the process of elevating environment, health and safety issues to the same level as the award-winning science for which the Laboratory is world renowned.

• Foremost among AUI and BNL's responses to the Committee's report are management changes, announced on Monday, April 28. The management appointments are designed to form a team to manage the Laboratory with a new and intense emphasis on integrating environmental, safety and health programs. Simultaneously, Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the nonprofit research management organization that operates BNL, is continuing to aggressively identify candidates for the Laboratory's directorship.
• AUI and BNL will establish an external ES&H Management Improvement Team, which will include representatives from other national laboratories and industry. The team will provide overall guidance on strengthening organizational and management structures required to achieve a fully integrated ES&H process.
• BNL will revitalize and reconstitute the ES&H Management Advisory Group to include BNL senior managers and will invite representatives from DOE, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Suffolk County Department of Health Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to participate. A communications plan will be designed to assure public involvement.
• The Management Advisory Group will review the process used to rank environmental, health and safety programs at BNL, and restructure it as necessary to assure that resources are used to address the highest-priority areas and that no unacceptable risks are tolerated because of a lack of resources.
• The roles and responsibilities of senior managers-- from the Laboratory Director through every level of the management chain-- regarding ES&H issues will be clearly defined. Each BNL employee will be held accountable for identifying and preventing unsafe or inadequate work practices and for taking whatever corrective actions are necessary.
• BNL senior management will commit to frequent interaction with the Long Island community to ensure that they are fully aware of and responsive to community concerns in the future.

The management and employees of BNL want to thank the Bari Committee members for their efforts in compiling this Report. We welcome the recommendations of the Bari Committee and will incorporate them into our immediate and long-term plans to integrate environmental, safety and health into all our programs and operations at the Laboratory.