In April 2013, DOE cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky and its teaming partners reached a milestone of 2 million hours without a lost workday case since November 2010.
LATA Kentucky celebrates the safety milestone this Thursday with festivities at the site.
“This is especially significant because it was accomplished while cleaning up two of the site’s most contaminated building complexes,” said LATA Kentucky’s Environment, Safety, and Health Manager Dave Kent.
LATA Kentucky overcame complex environmental and safety challenges during the demolition of the C-340 Metals Plant, which was completed in February. The facility was used to manufacture uranium metal during the Cold War and contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), radionuclides, and asbestos.
Concurrent with the C-340 demolition, LATA Kentucky has been working to bring the C-410 Feed Plant to the point of being demolition-ready. This process involves the removal of components, piping and support structures such that only a building shell remains to support demolition, which starts Oct. 1.
Kent said safety is a core value at the Paducah site, with emphasis on strict adherence to work controls and procedures. Through this disciplined approach, hazards are identified and abated before work starts.
The safety milestone “clearly exemplifies” USW Local 550’s safety philosophy and approach in performing hazardous work daily, said Donna Steele, local president. “I will put the USW Local 550’s highly skilled, well-trained, safety conscious workforce up against any in the nation.”
In 2012, LATA Kentucky won the Governor’s Health and Safety Award, the highest safety-related honor given by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The company led all DOE Environmental Management prime cleanup contractors in safety performance during fiscal 2012.
Managed by Los Alamos Technical Associates Inc., LATA Kentucky began a five-year contract in 2010 for environmental remediation at the Paducah Site. Primary teaming partners are LATA-Sharp Remediation Services, S.M. Stoller Corp., and B&W Technical Services Group.
