Unimportant Incidents…
Public perception of operations conducted by BNFL, is that of a company striving to attain the highest possible standards with a dedicated workforce of the highest calibre…
One such ‘dedicated’ BNFL employee was observed by numerous onlookers as he employed a steam pipe illegally as a dangerous shortcut, rather than climb back down the ladder to the ground sixty feet below.
Brazenly and without any trace of fear the man walked across the Steam pipe on the eastern side of B205, making the observing Safety Rep. Laugh with astonishment as the worker strolled along with his hands tucked firmly in his pockets, seemingly oblivious to the sick surface of the piping under his feet and the unguarded drop to the concrete below.
You would expect that any safety Representative who failed to take any action over a case of such sheer recklessness would not remain a Safety Representative for very long, and this was indeed what eventually happened...
As the worker who took the illegal shortcut was a Shift Manager (Mr G. Rothery) and far outranked the observing Safety Rep, no action could or would be instigated by the embarrassed and intimidated worker, who was subsequently promoted to a staff position on the S.U.S.A. safety improvements team, where he now preaches what he once refused to practice.
To kill a man with a rubber glove would seem improbable, but it is possible, as one BNFL worker almost found to his cost. Concentrating on pedalling his bicycle the man never saw the water charged rubber glove as it fell towards him from an open access door over one hundred and fifty feet above, shock alone could have killed him while the ensuing flight over his handlebars was spectacular enough to bring a delighted cheer from the laughing men above.
Water bombs are not the only hazards to be found at the Sellafield plant, one junior employee appeared at the plant surgery on one memorable day badly contaminated from having slipped into a highly contaminated sump (Gutter) situated within a supposedly secure cell in Building 207. Inexperienced and afraid the man had not however reported to the plant surgery immediately after slipping on the treacherous, solvent covered stainless steel floor, his radioactive footprints led from the open cell door to a now badly contaminated shower in the man’s changing rooms, before more radioactive footprints trailed to Separation Area surgery, where the man underwent extensive and lengthy decontamination procedures as his workmates scrubbed away his radioactive footprints!
Contaminated showers are not the only unseen hazard to be encountered by staff when they use the changing rooms at Sellafield, even opening your personal clothing locker is not without risk should you happen to be an unpopular member of staff.
One especially despised supervisor at Sellafield opened his locker door one evening, and was immediately attacked by one very large and irate seagull, a seagull that had been somehow incarcerated in his locker where it had sat malevolently, waiting like a feathered bomb. When the bomb exploded from the opened locker door the effect on the terrified supervisor was immediate and dramatic. His screaming could be heard in the canteen hundreds of feet away where people hushed instantly as they heard what they assumed to be bloody murders erupt.
The supervisor escaped with a few cuts and bruises and a severe case of shock that left him shaking visibly for the remainder of his night shift, the hapless seagull that had been caught using fishing hooks and bread was not so fortunate…
Seagulls are perceived as flying rats by the workers at Sellafield and are considered as fair game to some of the workers.
Catapults and an inexhaustible supply of stainless steel ammunition have a seriously negative impact on seagulls, that have been seen to explode in a shower of white feathers when one particular operator let fly with his hunting catapult, sending lethal projectiles into the night sky.
Exiting changing rooms can have its other dangers too, one enthusiastic production Chargehand was renowned for his spectacular and fearless use of his BNFL issue bicycle that he would leap on energetically in his enthusiasm to attend his place of work. Until that is someone ‘unknown’ placed a small-unseen padlock on the bicycles front wheel, where it completed exactly one revolution of a circle that ended with the unfortunate Chargehand nose down on the concrete oblivious of anything but the delighted laughter that had begun with the man’s superman like flight, and only ended when the bloodied and stunned man had limped away for medical attention and hot, sweet tea…
The sheer size of Sellafield allows pranksters to carry out almost unlimited mayhem at times such as silent hours, when the normally bustling site is quiet and eerily deserted. Walking through some of the huge, cathedral like buildings unnerves many of the workers who’s duties embrace visiting buildings that are normally silent save for the hum of ventilation fans…normally!
One extremely agitated production worker attended the plant surgery claiming that he’d just witnessed a suicide and the body lay at the bottom of the ten story shaft where the sobbing man had been subjected to a tortured scream, before a body thumped onto concrete beside the traumatised worker, who fled the cloud of dust thrown up by the fallen body wailing hysterically.
No body was to be found however; the towel stuffed dummy had been retrieved by its mischievous owners and was never found.
Another dummy caused instant panic for two production workers despatched to a deserted building to remove some rubbish from inside an unlit and gloomy chamber; where the sight of a hanging man provoked a mini-brawl between the two frightened men who fought each other as they tried to escape back out of the narrow entrance hatch, screaming hysterically as they did so.
April the first is all fools day, an event that should hold no significance within Sellafield or the nuclear industry. Unless you happen to work in Magnox reprocessing that is…
An emergency meeting was ordered one morning with every one of Magnox Reprocessing departments instructed to attend (at 0400hrs!) in the control room where emergency announcements were made, the entire complement of men, production workers, electricians, instrument mechanics, health physics monitors and mechanical engineers were briefed by the stern faced young Manager who informed them that they were effectively unemployed, following the immediate closure of Sellafield’s reprocessing plants.
The information had been confirmed and the young Manager, Mr G. Rothery offered his condolences to the stunned men, who could only accept as authentic proof the proffered computer print-out of the Manager as he read his carefully worded, and official looking script.
One of the dazed production workers tumbled the ruse eventually and realised that it was simply the fool in command, and not a mature manager that stood before him laughing at the discomfort he had wrought with his production robbing performance.
The inexperience of some of these managers who have never experienced any other employment outside BNFL’s artificial environment, can sometimes lead the more naive younger managers into dangerous and unexpected confrontations with some of the more traditionally minded production workers.
Visiting one of the buildings he was responsible for one night almost cost one young shift manager a thrashing when he deliberately activated an emergency alarm as he made his way up the stairs that lead to B268’s control room, where one very large former street-fighting merchant seaman happened to be peacefully reading a book that reminded him of all the brawls he’d ever had from Alice Springs in Australia to Whitehaven in Cumbria, where his former, younger ferocity is still recalled in reverent tones…
By the time the red faced manager reached the control room he had activated three more alarms on each of the three floors and knew that the alarms were functioning perfectly from the illuminated signs that warned of a radiation alert.
Enquiring as to whether the radiation alarms had been reported to the Health Physics office by the control room operative and receiving a negative reply, the manager unwisely berated the large man, who stood placidly before him until the manager admitted to being the cause of the alarms in his silent and stealthy progress to the now red-faced worker who exploded with rage at what he saw as being sneaky behaviour.
Choosing discretion above valour the unnerved young man fled the control room after the furious operator promised to deal with him now, as he’d once dealt with any treacherous snake, in his former days as a jungle fighter in Malaysia…
Treachery can be found in any working environment and BNFL as a company is no exception to this rule, the unique options however that are available to disaffected BNFL employees pursuing personal vendettas at a place of work where radioactive materials can be obtained so easily, is though truly exceptional!
One unfortunate individual who was the target of one such vendetta was removed from his place of employment following an incident when a sample of extremely radioactive ‘Rod’ solution was detected in the mans coverall pockets as he left his changing rooms, setting off the radiation alarms with his highly contaminated approach…
The subsequent investigation failed to uncover either the perpetrator of act or the methods employed to remove such a lethal substance from a production process that is supposedly, strictly controlled and safely managed.
People in the know pointed the finger of blame at a man who would soon attain both a promotion and a new nickname that christened him ‘Psycho Sid’, while the man who’d been maliciously contaminated was transferred to a distant part of the site, under a cloud of management inspired suspicion.
Psycho proved to be a fitting title for a production supervisor who would instruct operators to enter areas where contamination levels were unknown, and therefore potentially hazardous.
On correctly refusing to enter one such contaminated area, one experienced reprocessing Chargehand found himself on the receiving end of a tirade of abuse, that ended with a threat of instant dismissal to the Chargehand and a counter threat of a more violent dismissal from the justifiably angry Chargehand, who was later interviewed by a hostile Shift Manageress who was more concerned with the words “fuck,” and “off,” rather than the unlawful and dangerous practices of her errant, subordinate supervisor.
This kind of industrial culture promotes accidents; insignificant and trivial occurrences can initiate a chain reaction of events that affect BNFL’s overall index of effectiveness…
“BNFL exports Uranium Trioxide to German engineering firms, not purposely and at enormous cost to BNFL”. The chain of events that gives credence to this statement began when a rotary valve malfunctioned in the Uranium Production plant and was retuned to the German manufacturer for repair, along with a sample of the material being processed by the valve, the material being of course, Uranium!
The valve’s manufacturer had never dealt with radioactive materials previously and lacked any of the mandatory certification that is required by companies dealing with radioactive substances commercially.
The Manager responsible for the Reprocessing plants Mr P. Maher was obliged to fly to Germany in an attempt to mollify the incensed Germans, who expected the documentation accompanying the contaminated valve to be both accurate, and legitimate.
A blameless engineering supervisor, responsible for the two maintenance engineers tasked to the removal of the valve, was duly crucified and insulted by Mr Maher who’d returned shame faced and very angry from an outraged German engineering firm.
The contaminated valve was later found to have been decontaminated by two operators who had stated to their supervisor on completion of their task, that the valve was clear externally. The certificate issued by the Health Physics Department responsible for checking the valve, stated quite clearly that the valve was clear, externally only!
Other incidents that could prove hazardous to foreign countries are narrowly avoided as a matter of routine in some of the older Sellafield plants, where, certain operational maintenance procedures are carried out without benefit of either a risk assessment, or a method statement to comply with statutory legislation.
One particular operation that BNFL cannot furnish the necessary documentation for concerns the removal of two very highly contaminated shielding covers from one of the maintenance bulges situated within the aging B205 plant.
BNFL’s own records prove that the necessary double walled containment tent required for this particular operation (Bulge 49) is always built properly, as the Smoke test certificate issued by Health Physics Dept stated for this particular instant. The extract system creating a partial vacuum inside the working area tent worked as intended, and then a BNFL operator slashes open the double roofs of the radioactive working area making the complete operation, instantly and irrefutably illegal…
The act of introducing a cranes hook and chain into a radioactive working environment to remove anything contaminated by radioactive contamination is in itself an illegal act.
This sentiment was in fact offered to Mr Rothery, the Manager responsible, for one such incident before the operation commenced, the manager responsible for the operation that became an incident being happy to manage illegally!
In laughing in the face of the employee who sought to avoid a predicted radiological incident, the manager responsible happily insulted both the vigilant employee, and the employee’s Shift Supervisor, who witnessed the whole affair silently and could not respond when the young Manager professed that “But, we’ve always done it this way” in a jovial tone that ridiculed the subordinate worker.
The vigilant and correct employee had to leave BNFL, his subsequent improvement initiatives that negated the use of illegal methods of operation were suppressed and the operation continues to be conducted without either risk assessment, or method statement to this very day, with the Health and Safety Executive’s full knowledge.