Energia i regulacje · 12.02.2004

Best Practices To Establish and Maintain a Safety Conscious Work Environment; Request for Comments and Announcement of Public Meeting

The 1996 NRC Policy Statement, "Freedom of Employees in the Nuclear Industry to Raise Safety Concerns Without Fear of Retaliation," provides the agency's broad expectations with respect to licensees establishing and maintaining a Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE); that is, an environment in which employees are encouraged to raise safety concerns both to their own management and to the NRC without fear of retaliation. In a March 26, 2003 Staff Requirements Memorandum, the Commission directed the staff to develop further guidance, in consultation with stakeholders, that identifies "best practices" to encourage a SCWE. The NRC staff is now proceeding to develop that guidance. As an initial step, the NRC will be holding a public workshop on February 19, 2004, at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, O- 1G16, Rockville, Maryland from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. to discuss multiple issues. These issues include: (1) The format such guidance should take; (2) Effective ways to encourage employees to raise safety concerns; (3) Effective processes to review and respond to concerns; (4) The scope of training on SCWE principles; (5) Tools to measure the health of the SCWE; (6) The role of the c