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OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICE
Norfolk Naval Shipyard has competent on site experts in numerous technical disciplines capable of resolving the many complex issues which confront job planning and execution. In this respect several innovative technologies and programs have been initiated here to assist in work accomplishment :
One of Norfolk NSY's most important strategies for achieving and sustaining a high level of environmental compliance and performance is to clearly define the training aspects of the Safety, Health and Environmental requirements. The NAVSEA Corporate Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental (OSHE) Training Program for Naval Shipyards was designed to identify OSHE training requirements and identify a means to address required training at all levels of the organization. Major components of the OSHE Training Program are:
- Training Requirements Data Sheets - provide a synopsis of the regulatory requirements,
- Functional Training Groups - categorized groupings of employees based on job functions and responsibilities
- Training Modules - provide the basis for training material development and acquisitions.
The OSHE Training Program consist of six volumes of information, 3000+ pages.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard, as lead shipyard for the OSHE Training Program for the Naval Sea Systems Command, Field Activity Management and Support Organization (SEA07), has developed a vehicle to disseminate the OSHE Training Program information to Department of the Navy activities via the World Wide Web at no charge to the user. The OSHE Link is this vehicle.
The OSHE Link was developed to provide users with the current information in a more cost effective and expeditious manner. Through utilization of the OSHE Link users will be able to access OSHE Training Program information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as receive program updates instantaneously.
Any Department of Defense employee can access the OSHE Link home page through the Internet at
http://www.osha.gov. The user can navigate the web site by using a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL POSTURE Norfolk Naval Shipyard is responsive to all Federal, State and Local requirements as pertaining to the safety and health of employees and the protection of the environment. Maintaining compliance with all applicable statutes (federal, state, and local) is a given at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in that this is not only mandated by law, but is also demanded by the public, and is clearly the right thing to do. While compliance alone is a challenging objective, exceeding mere compliance to achieve a sustained program of Safety and Environmental excellence demands the application of aggressive and innovative approaches to environmental management and the preservation of the safety and health of our employees. This translates into reduced injuries and more productive work time and more efficient process controls which support job execution while maintaining the environment. For the customer this means work force attention is on quality job accomplishment, on time and within cost. The shipyard has received national and Federal awards for its superior safety, health and environmental programs.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard aggressively pursues community outreach program to enhance our OSHE business posture. These public and regulatory agency outreach/partnering initiatives include: the Installation Restoration Community Relations Plan and Restoration Advisory Board, which informs and consults with the Public concerning restoration of old waste sites on Shipyard property; joint environmental education and internship programs with Tidewater Community College; participation in the Virginia DEQ Analytical Task Force; environmental briefings and tours for state and local officials, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and local school children; participation in the community's Elizabeth River Project; and providing speakers at various environmental conferences and symposiums.
All of which increase the Shipyard's standing in the community and ensures work compatibility with community goals.
OSHE TRAINING PROGRAM AND FACILITY Norfolk NSY, Tidewater Community College (TCC), and the City of Portsmouth have partnered to establish an ongoing Environmental Sciences Associates degree program. This educational program utilizes NNSY and TCC training facilities, TCC instructors, and "hands on" training experiences supported by NNSY and the city of Portsmouth to provide a training and education opportunity to city/shipyard employees, and the general public, unlike any other program known to us. The Partnership was recognized by the Governor's Advisory Council of the Virginia Business-Education Partnership Program, and the Secretary of Education, as a pioneering venture in the Virginia. A highly successful initiative begun in 1994 is an Environmental Intern Program with TCC which allows qualified students to gain real life experience by working on environmental projects within the shipyard.
As a joint venture between the shipyard, Tidewater Community College, and the City of Portsmouth, Virginia, the Waverly Sykes Training Center is the first training partnership of its type between federal, state, and local governments. A new initiative of the training center is partnering with the community and OSHA to provide confined space entry training. The confined space entry training is a result of a local area tragedy involving a federal contractor working at a nearby installation. With the cooperation of the Navy, OSHA, and Tidewater Community College this training should prevent the recurrence this sort of tragedy. The Waverly E. Sykes Training Center is located adjacent to the shipyard's St. Juliens Creek Annex and serves as a unique training facility. The training center includes a modern classroom facility plus six acres of land for mock up training exercises and provides environmental training at low cost to shipyard employees, city employees, private industry, local area DOD Commands, and the public. Courses taught at the facility includes Environmental Law, Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Sampling, Industrial. Wastewater Treatment, Potable Water and Wastewater Management, Emergency Response Training, Fire Fighting Techniques, Fire Inspection, and Safety and Health Standards.
This facility can be scheduled to support a variety of training needs in the OSHE related business arena and is capable of supporting on site mock ups to assist in real life scenario planning and work execution.
DRY-DOCK WATER COLLECTION PROCESS Processes developed and utilized by Norfolk NSY have focused on maximizing the use of best available or emerging technologies which minimize the impact to the marine environment and are economically sound. Starting in 1994, the shipyard applied new and innovative technologies to a dry-dock water pollution problem with the objective of achieving a high level of environmental compliance and pollution prevention while simultaneously reducing costs. The approach chosen was to capture and treat all contaminated dry-dock runoff waters, including rain water, to reduce contaminants to minimum levels prior to discharging these waters. In June 1994, the new pollution control approach was employed in Dry-dock 8 (the shipyard's largest dry-dock) during a scheduled availability. Water from caisson leakage and ship's non-contact cooling water was routed directly to the dry-dock outfall. Potentially contaminated water such as ground water, rainwater, and hydrostatic leakage that had come into contact with industrial contaminants (e.g., abrasive grit) were pumped from the dry-dock through vortex separators to a holding barge, and are then processed through a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) water treatment system which yields at least 75% reduction in the metals content (e.g., copper, zinc) of Norfolk NCI's dry-dock effluent. This has not only been a highly successful environmental compliance initiative, but has also save well over $1 Million per year when compared to previous dry-dock water pollution control methods. This initiative and now routine process allowed schedules to be maintained while reducing costs and being a steward of the environment. |