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River Corridor Closure Project team reaches two million safe hours

01.30.2008

RICHLAND, Wash.—River Corridor Closure Project employees and subcontractors recently reached two million hours without a lost workday injury on January 23, exactly one year to the day since the project’s last lost workday injury.

The River Corridor Closure Project team includes 800 Washington Closure Hanford, Eberline Services Hanford and Integrated Logistic Services employees and nearly 250 subcontractor employees. The team is responsible for protecting the Columbia River by demolishing 486 buildings, cleaning up 370 waste sites and operating the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility at the 586-square-mile Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state.

“In the last year, we have instituted a number of changes in the way we do business to ensure the safety of our employees,” said Washington Closure President Chuck Spencer.

“We recently passed a critical safety validation milestone, and earlier this month began cleanup at one of the Hanford Site’s higher-risk radioactive waste burial grounds,” said Spencer. “Much of the work we do, especially at the waste burial sites, is done with limited historical information regarding what we’re getting into. That means we have to plan for the worst case and that we protect workers and the public, regardless of what they find,” said Spencer.

“Our workers are very safety conscious and willing to take the time to do the job safely. That is the reason we now have two million hours without a lost workday injury,” he said.

Washington Closure manages the River Corridor Closure Project for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office.