#97-56
Issued 6/10/97
BROOKHAVEN LAB PLANS MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS
AS PART OF DOE 30-DAY ACTION PLAN
UPTON, NY -- Brookhaven National Laboratory will undertake a sweeping management
improvement program as its part of the 30-Day
Action Plan released today by the U.S. Department
of Energy.
"Today, we in the Laboratory's senior leadership
are sending a strong message of our commitment to changing BNL's culture
in pursuit of excellence in environment, safety and health, or ES&H,
performance," said Brookhaven Interim Director Lyle Schwartz. "We
are establishing a framework for our three main initiatives: leadership,
integrated safety management, and communications. By mid-July, we will flesh
out that framework with specific actions."
BNL's Management Systems Improvement Project (MSIP),
which makes up a significant portion of the DOE plan, was crafted specifically
to respond to the recommendations laid out in a previous DOE report, the
Integrated Safety Management Evaluation that was released May 1.
The MSIP's main initiatives break down as follows:
- Leadership BNL
has already established a Leadership Council made up of top managers to
guide the implementation of the MSIP. The Lab will examine and revise the
roles and responsibilities of the deputy and associate directors to incorporate
ES&H processes and accountability; reconstitute an existing group that
advises Laboratory management on ES&H matters to include representatives
of DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, and the Suffolk County Department of Health
Services; and establish an ES&H management improvement team that will
include representatives from other national laboratories and industry.
- Communications The
Lab will improve the way it reaches out to, and receives feedback from,
local residents, employees, government officials, media, and other audiences.
BNL will proactively involve the community in key decisionmaking. These
actions will be guided by communications plans, and aided by improvements
in BNL's internal communications systems and the communication between
DOE and BNL.
- Integrated safety management The Lab will identify, evaluate, prioritize and act upon
its ES&H vulnerabilities; put in place a tracking system for corrective
ES&H actions; establish priority-sensitive ES&H budgeting processes;
enhance its work-planning process for ES&H projects; improve its overall
training program, including ES&H training; update its policy and procedure
documents; and develop a set of performance measures for ES&H programs.
"This management systems improvement plan will only succeed if all
of us at BNL are committed to improving the way BNL does business,"
Schwartz said. "And of course, we'll be working hand in hand with
DOE to implement the actions they have outlined for themselves today."
-- 30 --