ISM is a safety system instated by the Department of Energy for all DOE facilities and contractors doing work for DOE. This was put into place in the late nineties to help integrate safety through out the management system.
The objective of Integrated Safety Management as stated by DOE, "The Department and Contractors must systematically integrate safety into management and work practices at all levels so that missions are accomplished while protecting the public, the worker, and the environment. This is to be accomplished through effective integration of safety management into all facets of work planning and execution. In other words, the overall management of safety functions and activities becomes an integral part of mission accomplishment."1
NIF adopted this model ES&H System implemented by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and embellished it to insure a turn around from their Status Quo Safety Program into one now recognized as a World Class Safety achievement. The NIF Safety process focuses on the Goal of "ZERO". ISM requires that Line Management (all levels from Project Manager to the First Line Supervisor) emphasize the inclusion of safety planning, and setting safety behavior expectations for carrying out the technical work activities. It sets the roles and responsibilities for safety of all workers.
In 2000 the National Ignition Facility experienced a serious incident that resulted in a permanent disabling injury to a construction worker. Line Management partnered with a Construction Safety Consultant from DuPont to guide them in implementing an immediate safety culture change on the Project. The concept was to use the existing ISMS to achieve this goal.
Over the past four years, the NIF Project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has achieved a World Class Safety record compared to one that exceeded the National Average of 7.3 (BLS 2001)2 by nearly double. As of December 2004 The NIF Project reached 4 years without a LWC. The project has accumulated over 4 million safe hours and a Total Recordable Case Rate of 1.2 "Exhibit 1". NIF's achievements in safety have been recognized multiple times by the National Safety Council.
NIF has accomplished this outstanding achievement through Project Managements' aggressive implementation of the five core functions and seven principles of ISM. Project management accepted ownership of health and safety on the project. We want to discuss how ISMS was used to accomplish this tremendous turn around and how you can have like results at your plant, construction site or laboratory.
