Savannah River Site Chemical Management Program

DOE-HDBK-1139/2-2002

Savannah River Site Chemical Management Program

1.0 Introduction

Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC), as the prime contractor, manages the Savannah River

Site (SRS) for the DOE. Projects related to past, present, and future missions have used and continue to

use chemicals in a variety of processes. The SRS CMP was established to ensure that the management of

chemicals complies with applicable Federal, State and local regulations, DOE directives, and the

contractual provisions with DOE, as stated in the Standards/Requirements Identification Document

(S/RID).

The SRS CMP also aims to ensure that the core elements of the ISMS are adopted at each process or

activity level. Safety is of utmost importance to SRS employees, as evidenced by the "VPP Star" status

granted by DOE-HQ in 2000 for the quality of the DOE-Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) at SRS.

Also, SRS received certification under the ISO 14001, "Environmental Management Systems

Specification with Guidance for Use" program in 1997.

The Chemical Commodity Management Center (CCMC) at SRS is the organization designated to

establish SRS chemical management policy and help implement the SRS CMP on site. The SRS CMP

does not rely on the CCMC efforts alone because chemical safety is recognized at SRS as the

responsibility of ALL employees. The CMP takes input from the SRS Chemical Management Committee

at the Division level, and from the chemical coordinators at the field level, and provides a common focus

to those working with chemicals from various line organizations. CMP implementation is achieved

through compliance with site-level and facility-specific procedures that govern activities associated with

chemicals, oversight by CCMC and other WSRC organizations, and the use of communication tools, such

as, the Chemical Life Cycle Management homepage and its links on SRS Intranet (see Section 2.0). The

CCMC manager coordinates the SRS CMP and serves as the single point of contact for all chemical

issues.

WSRC has established a site-level Chemical Management Committee (CMC) to address chemical safety

management. This committee consists of members having the authority to address issues for their

Division's Vice-President and the responsibility to implement all committee decisions within their

divisions. The DOE Field office at SRS, as well as, WSRC Divisional Support organizations such as

Industrial Hygiene, Transportation, Fire Protection, and Emergency Services, are also represented at the

CMC. The CCMC manager chairs the committee and holds monthly meetings.

Each site organization has a chemical coordinator, who is a trained, facility-level person, responsible for

day-to-day chemical safety and OSHA HazCom compliance issues. The chemical coordinators are

matrixed to the CCMC for guidance and training. They also attend monthly meetings organized by the

CCMC.

2.0 Chemical Life-cycle Program

The SRS CMP requires chemical hazards to be examined at every stage in the life cycle of the chemical.

The first option is to eliminate the use of a hazardous chemical if possible. Where elimination is not

practicable, the minimum amount required for the application is procured. Other areas to be examined

include, but are not limited to, the potential impact on safety basis in selection of the warehousing facility,

onsite transportation, designation of storage locations within operating facilities, handling and use, and