TRED's enduring safety traction garners national awards

Technology Resources Engineering Division (TRED) recently received two national safety awards after surpassing one million work hours and 12 months without a lost workday injury or illness.

The division's employees routinely work with a wide range of hazardous materials and operations in support of the Laboratory's research programs and infrastructure maintenance.

The 400-plus member division has received two awards of excellence from the National Safety Council: the Million Hours Worked Award and the Perfect Record Award for going one year without an occupational injury. TRED has continued to extend its safety record to more than 1.1 million hours and 17 months without an occupational injury or illness resulting in days away from work.

The division provides a wide variety of ISO9001-certified manufacturing and engineering services to Lab research programs and infrastructure organizations. "In our division there’s an enormous diversity of industrial hazards from caustic chemicals and high-power lasers to large machine tool operations and radio tower maintenance," said Joel Bowers, TRED division leader.

ISO, or the International Organization for Standardization, sets standards designed to make the development, manufacturing and/or supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner.

Bowers credits a "grass-roots safety culture" that fosters openness and encourages workers at all levels to freely discuss safety issues and concerns. "This is not safety by fiat or decree," Bowers said. "It’s not managers telling people what to do. We facilitate discussion, provide training and assure proper reviews, and provide support to those who face hazards that are not common to the general public or even the rest of the Laboratory. We encourage a culture of openness in which people can report incidents and bring up concerns without fear of consequences.

"I wish I could give a recipe for this accomplishment, but I can’t. This is a highly motivated, service-oriented workforce that takes pride in getting things done right the first time on behalf of the customer. We foster grass roots, workbench-level safety. The people in our division consider safety a part of their professional identity," he said. "We personally care about each other and the families that depend on us to get home safe at the end of the day. Our supervisors encourage that positive culture every day."

The 1.1 million hours extending 17 months back to November 2006, are evidence that safety is an integral part of division operations, according to Bowers. "We see these awards as an independent metric of how we do business."

Bowers wants to ensure that the announcement of a safety award will not inhibit the openness that was key to its achievement.

"The award is wonderful, but my greatest fear is the potential chilling effect on those who worry about ‘spoiling’ the record," he said. "If any one of our folks were to be injured tomorrow, I expect instant response on behalf of that individual. The record becomes irrelevant. ‘Caring about each other’ is more than a catch-phrase to me. It’s what defines who we are more than any award could ever do."

TRED’s four sections provide a breadth of services including one-of-a-kind capabilities to fulfill the often unique engineering, design, experimentation, fabrication and/or manufacturing needs of Laboratory research programs as well as operational and infrastructure organizations. The Manufacturing Engineering Section, for example, offers resources including: diamond turning; radioactive and explosive materials machining; heat treating; metal finishing; field installation; rapid prototyping; photo tooling; and laser processing to name a few. Call 4-TRED for more information on these and other services.

For more information about some TRED’s services and capabilities, see the Engineering’s Web page.