SRR VPP Core Team Presents Award
November 18, 2010
The Savannah River Remediation Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Core Team presents SRR President and Project Manager Jim French with the VPP Legacy of Stars and the VPP Star of Excellence awards. From left are SRR employees Tim Tate, French, Denise Long, Melanie Gibson, Glenn Bishop, Arlene "Tootsie" Williams and Donletta Watts.
Aiken, S.C. -- The Savannah River Remediation LLC (SRR) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Core Team presented SRR President and Project Manager Jim French with the VPP Legacy of Stars and the VPP Star of Excellence awards.
The VPP recognition is given by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for leadership in safety. The awards were presented in front of more than 100 members of the top SRR management team.The Star of Excellence award is given to those DOE sites demonstrating excellence in safety performance (OSHA recordable rates at least 75 percent lower than industry standards) and excelling by performing outreach efforts to other sites. Over the years, the contractors at the Savannah River Site (SRS) have met those milestones by logging the lowest OSHA recordable rates in their history and by entering into agreements to mentor other sites. In order to receive a Legacy of Stars Award, a contractor must earn the Star of Excellence Award for three consecutive years.
"These safety awards are important honors that demonstrate safe work," said Terrel Spears, Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Operations Office. "Employees and the community should be proud that safety is always our top priority."
French praised SRR employees for focusing on safety every day and continuing to do the right things in their jobs.
"Life comes at you 90 miles per hour," French said. "If you take your eye off the ball for even a second, you can suffer an injury. These awards demonstrate we take safety seriously, and I am proud of our employees for their daily commitment to safety."
SRR will have a DOE-Headquarters review team coming in February for an onsite visit to recertify the company's VPP status.
In the past month, SRR operations employees surpassed 2 million hours without a lost workday injury while the construction forces topped 23 million hours. Also, the SRR American Recovery and Reinvestment Act employees have just reached over 900,000 hours without losing any time due to a job-related injury.
The SRS Liquid Waste contract is managed by SRR, a team of companies led by URS Corp. with partners Bechtel National, CH2M Hill and Babcock & Wilcox. Critical subcontractors for the contract are AREVA, Energy Solutions and URS Safety Management Solutions.
Point of Contact: Dean Campbell, Manager, Public Affairs dean.campbell@srs.gov