Welcome back to the rest of the story about Duke Energy’s commitment to health and safety of employees and a look into health and safety work activities at a nuclear plant.
One of the benefits discussed about working in the health and safety field at Duke Energy are the many opportunities for continuing education and training throughout your career. Duke Energy promotes continuous learning and supports employees who want to attend industrial safety conferences and training sessions to maintain their qualifications and learn new industry safety standards.
In the nuclear industry, there is no typical day in the health and safety profession. A day could start with a member of the safety team attending management meetings to gather information on an investigation related to a safety incident or a new program. Safety professionals may also attend various Pre-job Brief (PJB) meetings with teams as they prepare to perform work to ensure they practice safe work behaviors with every job. They also examine internal and external areas of the plant to ensure walkways are safe and clear of trip and fall hazards. Brunswick's health and safety team continuously conduct job safety analyses (JSAs) which includes reviewing and walking down identified potential safety hazards for each job at the plant site.
The health and safety team also creates safety presentations to share with employees that show proper work methods or job hazards to raise awareness. Team members conduct regular field observations of teams from various departments performing day-to-day tasks in the plant. Safety is an important part of every department and team at a nuclear station.
Ted, Mike and Donald said it is amazing how far the health and safety industry has grown and matured over the years. The progression in allowable events has diminished greatly. Actions that were once allowed, even as normal practice years ago, are not allowed today. Ted, Mike and Donald say they are extremely proud to work for Duke Energy, a company that takes care of its employees and promotes working safely on every task and every day. Ted went on to say, "Duke really cares about their people and constantly monitors work to make sure employees are safe and everyone goes home safely.”
The team offered some parting advice for anyone looking at a career in industrial health and safety. While it is a growing field and demand is stable with many organizations in need of a safety department, it takes a lot of passion for people to perform the job well. A health and safety professional must take some ownership for safety related events that may occur and work to correct behaviors or workplace surroundings that may have caused the event. A person has to have a passion for the job and for helping other people. As a mentor from Mike’s past once said, “It’s not a job, it’s a calling.”