5 Charter for the Work Smart Standards Process

TABLE OF CONTENTS

section 1 Objectives and Expectations for this N&S Process

section 2 Identification of Participants in This N&S Process

    2.1Agreement Parties
    2.2Resource Authorities
    2.3Customer Organizations
    2.4Responsible Organization
    2.5Convened Group
    2.6Executive Team (ET)
    2.7Advisory Team
    2.8Process Leader
    2.9Integrated Functional Analysis Team (IFA)
    2.10Operational and Technical Experts
    2.11Identification Team (IT)
    2.12Internal Review Teams
    2.13Confirmation Team (CT)
    2.14Stakeholders

section 3 Protocols

    3.1 Approval of Standards Set
    3.2 Instructions to the Identification Team
    3.3 Scope of Standards Set
    3.4 Documentation of Standards Set
    3.5 Review of the Standards Set
    3.6 Confirmation of the Standards Set
    3.7 Interactions between Convened Group and Identification Team
    3.8 Stakeholders
    3.9 Consensus
    3.10Contract Modification

section 1

OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS N&S PROCESS

This document outlines the plans and protocols for conducting the Department of Energy's Necessary & Sufficient (N&S) Process (Attachment A) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California. The Necessary and Sufficient Process will examine the work performed by LBNL, identify the hazards, and specify an N&S set of Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H) standards. The N&S set of standards will serve as the agreed-upon basis for operating LBNL in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective manner with low risk to staff, the public, and the environment.

This process will seek out and emulate practices which have been proven successful both in terms of safety performance and cost effectiveness in industry and other comparable laboratories. When implemented, these N&S standards and safety practices will maintain the Laboratory in the upper quartile of ES&H performance as compared to similar activities both internal and external to DOE.

This charter has been developed as a partnership effort by the parties to this agreement (see "Responsibilities" below), and is considered to be a living document. This charter provides a basis for agreement that all parties who must agree with the set of standards will participate in the process planning, that stakeholder contributions will be incorporated into the process, and the confirmation of the standards will be conducted by highly trained and experienced experts and will reflect agreement of all the parties.

section 2

IDENTIFICATION OF PARTICIPANTS IN THIS N&S PROCESS

2.1    Agreement Parties

The agreement parties are the authorities that must approve the Set of Standards. The Convened Group has agreed that the following individuals have approval authority for the LBNL Set of Standards:

2.2    Resource Authorities

Resource Authorities are organizations or individuals who have control over the equipment, facilities, personnel, and budget necessary to accomplish the work. Such authorities include the line management of LBNL, UC, and the DOE, and other public and private institutions. DOE, UC, and LBNL line management are responsible for providing adequate resources to support the execution of the N&S process.

2.3    Customer Organizations

The work performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is performed for the Department of Energy and the University of California, and for other public and private institutions.

2.4    Responsible Organization

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has direct responsibility, accountability, and authority for performing the work subject to the agreed-upon set of standards.

2.5    Convened Group

The Convened Group's responsibilities are defined in Process Elements 2 and 3 of Attachment A, the DOE Necessary & Sufficient Process Manual (DOE M 450.3-1). This group also has ownership of this charter document. The Convened Group is responsible for resolving issues that the Identification Team is unable to reach consensus on. This group is a combination of the Executive Team, the Advisory Team, the Process Leader, and the Deputy Process Leader, as defined below.

2.6    Executive Team (ET)

The Executive Team's responsibilities, as part of the Convened Group, are defined in Process Elements 2 and 3 of Attachment A. Its role is to provide DOE, UC, and LBNL management input into the N&S process. This Team includes:

2.7    Advisory Team

The Advisory Team's responsibilities, as part of the Convened Group, are defined in Process Elements 2 and 3 of Attachment A. Its role is to provide advice from person's familiar with the N&S process. This team includes:

2.8    Process Leader

The Process Leader's responsibilities are defined in Process Elements 1, 2, and 3 of Attachment A. Ben Feinberg, the Operations Head of the Advanced Light Source Center, LBNL, has this responsibility. The Process Leader is a member of all N&S teams and tracks overall costs of the project. Jack Bartley, the Deputy Director of the EH&S Division, LBNL, is the Deputy Process Leader. Charles Simkins, the DOE/OAK Alternate Representative to the Department of Energy Standards Committee, is the advisor to the process leaders.

2.9    Integrated Functional Analysis Team (IFA)

An inventory and analysis of the work performed by the Laboratory and the associated hazards will be performed by the IFA. The IFA is charged with following the N&S process. Team members will be of the highest level of expertise to assure a quality analysis. Criteria for selecting the team and its members will be set by the Convened Group. The IFA Team will include members of the Identification Team to ensure sufficient overlap between defining the work and hazards and identifying the set of standards. Comments on the work hazards inventory may be submitted by anyone; any issues will be addressed in the weekly IFA Team meetings.

The IFA will also work with the Laboratory division safety coordinators, division directors and principle investigators (PIs) to verify and understand work processes and associated hazards. The associated responsibilities of the Process Leader and the Convened Group are set out in Process Element 1 of Attachment A.

2.10    Operational and Technical Experts

Operational Experts are individuals with knowledge and expertise relevant to the work, the site, the facility, and the activities addressed by the necessary and sufficient set of standards.

Technical Experts are individuals with knowledge and expertise relevant to a particular environment, safety and health discipline (for example, industrial hygiene or industrial safety).

2.11    Identification Team

This group's responsibilities for identifying and confirming the set of standards are defined in Process Elements 3 and 4 of Attachment A. Its membership is determined by the Convened Group. The Identification Team will consist of LBNL representatives, DOE representatives, and other parties and subject matter experts as needed.

The Identification Team will be divided into the Core Team and four Activity Teams. The Core Team will identify the standards and requirements applicable site wide, will minimize duplication among the sets identified by the Activity Teams, and provide a venue for technical issues resolution among the Activity Teams. The Core Team shall consist of the Leaders of the Activity Teams, and includes:

The Accelerator & Fixed Radiation Sources Activity Team will identify standards in the areas of radiation protection, including fixed sources, fixed source dosimetry, shielding, radiofrequency safety, high voltage electrical safety, and waste management/minimization unique to accelerators. The Accelerator Activity Team includes:

The Environmental Protection Team will identify standards in the areas of water protection, including sanitary sewer, surface, and ground water; air protection; monitoring and surveillance; site wide waste management; and NEPA/CEQA. The Environmental Protection Team includes:

The Facilities and Infrastructure Team will identify standards in the areas of safety design, construction safety, maintenance, occupational safety (including cranes and hoists and ergonomics), fire and building codes, vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and waste management/minimization associated with construction and design. The Facilities and Infrastructure Team includes:

The Laboratory Safety Team will identify standards in the areas of occupational safety; chemical hygiene; biohazard/medical safety; radiation protection, including sealed sources and unconfined radioactivity and dosimetry; waste management/minimization associated with laboratories; and local environmental issues, including permits and emission sources. The Laboratory Safety Team includes:

2.12    Internal Review Teams

These groups are responsible for reviewing the draft set of N&S standards prior to confirmation. The membership is determined by the Convened Group. The Internal Review Teams will consist of the LBNL Safety Review Committee, and the DOE / OAK ES&H Policy Committee.

2.13    Confirmation Team (CT)

This group's responsibilities for reviewing and confirming the set of standards are defined in Process Element 4 of Attachment A, as follows:
  1. Review the information available to and used by the Identification Team.

  2. Confirm that the set of standards is necessary and sufficient to satisfy the performance expectations and objectives of the work.

  3. Confirm that implementation of the set of standards will be feasible.

The Confirmation Team's membership is determined by the Convened Group. The Confirmation Team will consist of industry representatives, DOE representatives, and other parties and subject matter experts as needed. The selected members of the Confirmation Team are:

2.14    Stakeholders

A Stakeholder is any party other than the Resource Authorities or the Agreement Parties that will be materially affected by, or can materially affect, the outcome of the work, either favorably or unfavorably (for example, representatives of state, local and federal governments; labor unions; and citizens' groups).

section 3

PROTOCOLS

3.1    Approval of Standards Set

The Standards Set will be considered approved when it has been agreed to and signed by the following parties in the order listed:

Responsible Organization: Charles V. Shank, Director, LBNL.

Customer Organization: James Turner, Manager, DOE Oakland Operations Office.

3.2    Instructions to the Identification Team

The Convened Group will issue a charge letter to the Identification Team outlining its expectations for the conduct of this N&S process.

3.3    Scope of Standards Set

The Necessary and Sufficient Set of Standards will focus on standards in the area of Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H). Any decision to include areas beyond ES&H will be made by agreement of the Convened Group and included in the final instructions to the Identification Team.

3.4    Documentation of Standards Set

The specific format and level of detail with which the standards set will be documented will be decided by the Identification Team. The Convened Group expects that this document will include, at a minimum, a listing of the standards and a summary discussion sufficient to communicate an understanding of the relationship between the LBNL work, its associated hazards and the standards selected.

3.5    Review of the Standards Set

Once the Identification Team has completed assembling the set of standards, it will be delivered to the Internal Review Teams for internal review. The Identification Team will address all comments of the Internal Review Teams.

3.6    Confirmation of the Standards Set

When the Identification Team has reached consensus that the set as a whole is adequate, the Convened Group shall present the set to a Confirmation Team for concurrence. This team will be expected to challenge the set and the Identification Team will be called upon to defend it (see Appendix C for details).

The Standards Set will be considered confirmed when the the Identification Team has successfully defended or modified it. At this point, the Convened Group will recommend it for approval.

Upon concurrence of the set by the Identification Team, Convened Group, Confirmation Team and response to stakeholder comments, the set will be presented to the approval parties.

3.7 Interactions between Convened Group and Identification Team

Throughout this process, the Process Leader will act as the liaison between the Identification Team and the Convened Group. The Convened Group and the Core Team will form the Extended Convened Group. Convened Group and Extended Convened Group meetings will be convened as necessary.

3.8    Stakeholders

In order to keep the Identification Team to a workable size, it will not be possible to include stakeholders on the team. Therefore, a meeting will be held with the Stakeholders early in the process to receive suggestions on the actual process being followed at the Berkeley Laboratory. Following the meeting, the work and hazards information will be made available at reading rooms accessible to the public. Once the Work Smart Standards set has been identified, a draft set will be placed in the reading rooms as well. Following confirmation, the set will be sent to the Stakeholders, and a second meeting will be held to present the set and ask for comments.

All Stakeholder comments will be treated as "issues" for the Identification Team, and addressed in the same manner as issues raised by the IFA and the IT teams.

3.9    Consensus

The Standards Set should represent the consensus of the members of the Identification Team. Consensus is arrived at through a negotiation process that identifies the set of standards each team member considers adequate and acceptable. Conflict resolution should be based on the assumption that the Identification Team is composed of "reasonable people." Consequently, if one team member will not commit to support a decision, the team should recognize the team member as a reasonable person and emphatically listen and understand the team member's concerns. Once the team understands the concerns, satisfactory resolution of the concerns may follow. On the other hand, if the concerns are not fully resolved, the team member should recognize the team as "reasonable people," and consider supporting their recommendation as generally acceptable (but perhaps not ideal). If at any point, the Identification Team is unable to reach consensus on any issue, they may bring this issue for resolution to the Convened Group.

3.10    Contract Modification

The approved standard set will replace the EH&S Orders in Appendix G of LBNL's contract effective the date of approval.

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